Mind Marvel - The Flash fanfic
by Reign Atkins
Summary: This was my original fanfiction that i wrote before i started my Flash fanfic Episodes prequel series. Still based on the Flash series and it still has my own superhero.. but due to events in my fanfic series, these events may or may not transpire...
1. Chapter 1 - Earth Prime

**Prologue/Chapter 1 Earth Prime**

Astrid Sutherland sat in the comfortable lounge chair, across from her psychologist, staring to the right of her, where a large fake pot plant sat. She breathed in deep. She did not feel like speaking any further for she feared what one might think if she were to speak her mind.

"So Astrid, go on," Anne spoke in her soft non-judgemental manner of speaking. "Tell me what do you mean by, and I quote "I wish I could sleep forever."

Astrid knew that this sounded like a sign of depression. But she knew she wasn't depressed. It was just that her dreams were so amazing and so… so clear. It was like this world that she saw and the people that she met were all very _very_ real.

The emotions, the vividness, the powers. These dreams had been going on forever and everything seemed to grow with her. Her friends in these dreams had grown older with her. Yet they did not exist in real life. Not that she knew of anyway.

She knew they were only dreams, nothing more, but the world was so exciting, that Astrid could only wish that it could really exist, and that she could be a part of it all.  
Astrid took another deep breath and spoke. "I love my life, really. But these dreams, are so exciting. In them I have these powers. Where I can read minds, I am a criminal psychologist, it is just so cool!

A friend of mine gets these visions of the future and other things, another friend can create ice and snow just by raising up her hands, another has the power of speed. But there are normal people in this world too. Those that do not hold such gifts, that we protect."

Anne tapped her pen to her clipboard as she stared intently at Astrid. "You already know that you are a self-aware person, so I am just going to ask you. What do you think that this all means?"

Astrid chuckled. "I need a career change, first of all. Somehow in these dreams I am pretty good at what I do."

"You work as a nurse in reality, am I correct?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"What else do you think that this could mean?"

"Honestly? Maybe I read too many comic books." Astrid joked, but she knew that this was a lie. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time, if ever, that she had picked one up.

Anne gave a soft smile and nodded. She pushed her glasses up her nose and then tucked a loose blonde lock of hair behind her ear. This only reminded Astrid of Cisco Ramon.

He was quite literally the man of her dreams, in a soft nerdy sort of way. Dark wavy hair to his shoulders, that he would occasionally tuck behind his ear, cute brown eyes and a boy-next-door charm. In her dreams they had been friends for a very long time. Yet she had no idea who he was in real life or if he even existed.

This world was parallel to the one that Astrid lived in. Yet everything was different. Everyone. Everything. It was like she was living an entirely different life as she slept.

ln her dreams she was different, she had received a psychology degree, she grew up in Central City with her father, Robert Sutherland.

Astrid rubbed a little sleep dust from her eye and noticed that Anne was waiting for her to continue. But she did not continue. "Astrid, I need to ask. Why do you feel that you need to be here? What do you need me to tell you?"

"I really don't know." This was the truth.  
"I really do not feel that you are telling me everything that is going on in your mind. But that is entirely up to you whether you do or not." Anne said this with such conviction that Astrid believed it.

So why was Astrid here? She did indeed have a question that she could only dream of asking but she knew the unfortunate answer to it.

Was it at all possible to be living a completely different life in a completely different world when she slept? She mentally answered the question to herself 'No, silly! Of course it isn't possible. Your body is laying in your bed. You are asleep!

Your mind alternates through psychological stages. Your body is just resetting its 24 hour body clock. That's it!' If only it were possible though!

Astrid bit her bottom lip for a moment. The question was worth a shot "Do you believe in alternate realities? That maybe I… well that anyone has another them living on a separate plane? In a different universe?"

Astrid studied Anne's face as she looked down at her notes. "Astrid you are not here for my personal opinions. You are here to discuss yourself."

"I know that. But a large part of me feels that this is all too crazy to even be asking this. I have been having these dreams for the past five years. Night after night after night. Like I am living a completely separate life. I know that it is not possible to do so. It's just these dreams feel so real."

"But they are not real, Astrid. You have already answered this yourself. Can you think of anything that may have happened for them to start up when they did? Maybe there were stories that you may have read? Movies or TV shows? Does anything come to mind?"

Astrid thought hard. She ran a hand through her long red-tinged brown hair, dyed of course. "No… Nothing major comes to mind."

Astrid observed Anne, who seemed quite puzzled. Astrid could only imagine what the psychologist was thinking. Astrid wasn't crazy, but she was obsessed with this other world.

"Do you find that this other world somehow interferes with your everyday life?" Anne asked her. Astrid smiled, "I suppose not. Well not really. OK maybe a little. I suppose my thoughts for this guy make it impossible to date anyone. I have such high standards for men. This guy of my dreams doesn't exist in real life so that creates unrealistic expectations, I guess."

"That sounds normal. But do you find it hard to function with your work? With your friends? With anything else?"

"No. I don't suppose I do. I guess part of me is still pretty overly curious that it could be possible that I am sleep walking, or actually functioning as someone completely different."

"Has anyone ever witnessed you sleep walking?"

"There have been a couple of times, but now I live alone, so I wouldn't actually know." Anne let out what sounded like a sigh of relief. "I can refer you on to a sleep expert if you like, they can run a few tests and observe you while you sleep. Would you like…"

Astrid didn't wait for her to finish her sentence "Yes please! As soon as possible." Anne scribbled down a name and phone number on the back of one of her business cards and handed it to Astrid, who accepted it. "That is our time for today, give this man a call, his name is Dr Fullton. I have worked with him in the past. He is highly recommended, I will forward your notes to him and we will be in contact soon."

Astrid left the office. She knew that there was no point to any of this and she knew she was just giving into her ridiculous notion, but she pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialled the number, as she made her way out into the car-park and hopped into her car. She made the appointment and hung up.

"You're insane, Astrid!" she said to herself. "There is no alternate universe, so you really need to stop obsessing over this crap!" In her mind she could see Cisco, his hacking techniques were incredible!

She could see Barry Allen, a slim guy with short dark hair who worked for the same police station as she did, but as a forensic scientist. She had brought him into their little fold, at first as a guinea pig for Caitlin. Caitlin Snow with her long dark wavy hair and the power to create ice from her bare hands.

She was also the smartest girl that Astrid had ever met. She was a doctor of so many titles that Astrid could barely remember them all.

Astrid would spend most of her time at the headquarters with her friends, working as a group of vigilantes in Central City at Sutherland Labs. In her dreams her father had founded Sutherland Labs which had made things quite remarkable as Astrid had never known her father in real life.

But he had been a major head scientist and a CEO of the corporation. Sutherland Labs was a facility dedicated to research in diseases, futuristic technology and other research. Caitlin had been one of the lead scientists. Cisco had been employed by Mr Sutherland as he had been one of Astrid's closest friends since high school.

However, Robert Sutherland had died five years ago when he left the country on business and was killed in his plane when the meteor had struck.

His only successor was his daughter, who being 25 years old at the time with no proper science skills had to take over his work. Fortunately, the team of scientists had kept the work going from under her and she only needed to deal with the oversight of the business.

It wasn't until Caitlin had begun experiencing uncontrollable side effects from the meteor and had Astrid walk in on her testing herself, that Astrid made the decision to pour their resources into researching the meteor's effects.

Some scientists left the corporation, while others were intrigued and jumped at the chance to work on these new projects. Caitlin's case was always kept secret. As was Cisco's and Barry's and even Astrid's.

They were the only four who worked at the facility who were aware of each other's abilities. Outside the Labs, however there was only one other person who was aware of their secrets. Detective Joe West, Barry's foster father. He also worked at the police station, which made necessary cover-ups with criminals, who had special abilities, much easier to manage.

Astrid could recall the news reports and articles of the meteor that had struck, 5 years prior and had wiped an entire state off the planet, leaving half the world's population infected with certain abilities, changing their very DNA.

Astrid took a deep breath in and sighed quickly, she turned the key in the ignition and drove home. At least she had tonight's dreams to look forward to. What would the group encounter this time she wondered to herself? She thought of the night before.

She had interviewed a criminal who could imagine anything he wanted and it would appear in his hands. Fortunately, he was strapped in handcuffs that were designed to stop his powers. This tech had been created by Cisco and a team of scientist who worked for Sutherland Labs.

The man had been arrested for numerous murders over Central City. Astrid shuddered remembering one of the murders and made herself push it to the back of her mind. It was too horrific to even think about.

What scared her the most was the thoughts she had seen in his head when she had read his mind. He was filled with such horror… such malice that it had brought a chill to her bones.

Astrid had to forcefully clear her mind from her dreams, for now anyway. So she drove home.


	2. Chapter 2 - Earth 27

"Where have you been?" Caitlin huffed at Astrid. "Never mind where you have been! It is just about time you showed up. Barry is chasing down some crooks who have kidnapped the mayor!"

"You're kidding me right? It seems that woman just loves being targeted. Didn't they up their security? Wait they used Cisco's tech! How did they get her?" Astrid said slightly annoyed.

"Don't worry! It wasn't my tech. My tech is good. Don't dis the tech!" Cisco's voice came in to their conversation. He was staring at his computer and communicating with Barry via earpiece.

"Sorry!" Astrid shot back at him and then spoke back to Caitlin, "How did they get her?"  
"At the airport. It's all over the news! Don't tell me you haven't seen it!" Caitlin raced over to the large TV on the wall and pointed at the screen, turning up the volume. It was sensor-automated.

"….Mayor Lingbrock's plane was hijacked before takeoff. Sources believe that her staff may have been compromised…."

"Her staff?" Astrid was not surprised there. "Politics hey?"  
Caitlin turned the TV's volume back down "Yep! But that's what happens when you pick regular humans over the gifted in this world."

"Agreed. Hey Why aren't you out there with Barry?" Astrid asked, hearing Cisco cry out "Woohoo! That's how it's done!" over the girl's conversation.

"Because it was an easy job!" Barry's voice chimed in as he entered the room dressed in his red mask and suit. "Maybe next time, Hey?"

"How did things go with Iris?" Astrid asked him, hopeful, that he might have finally taken her advice, and asked Iris out on a date.

"Are you wearing your bracelet?" Barry asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice. Astrid looked over at Cisco who was now curious too. Of course he was curious. He was the one who had made it for her. A bracelet crafted beautifully but made from the same metals as those fashioned by the criminals in prison.

"No," Astrid responded begrudgingly. Cisco stormed over to the desk and retrieved the bracelet. While Barry replied, "Well then I am pretty sure you can guess." Barry wasn't angry with her just annoyed, once again by his lack of luck with love.

Iris had been the love of his life since they were children, yet she was always out of reach, furthermore, she had no clue just who Barry really was. That he indeed was The Flash. It was quite cute actually.

"She has a boyfriend?" Astrid confirmed by delving into his mind. "Oh Barry. I am so sorry. One day you will get your chance." Astrid added hopefully.

"Yep my friend! You will!" Cisco had approached them now and was handing Astrid her bracelet. It was a silver bangle with a dozen small stones engraved into it.

"Why do I have to wear this thing. I feel like a criminal." She asked him as she put it on her wrist. "Because you are the only one yet who cannot completely control your abilities… Or maybe you can and you just love to use it on us."

Ever since he had found out that she could read minds he had been rather uneasy around her. Their friendship had been rather strained by it. She knew the reason why, she had seen the reason why in his mind but until he would confirm it verbally, she would never speak of it.

Sure they flirted with each other but that was it. He was still her best friend and that was something that she cherished more than anything. Especially after everything that they had been through together. "Maybe I just like to watch you lot squirm." Astrid grinned

"Right now I don't know whether you are being serious or not." Cisco replied.  
"Yep and you'll never know."

Beep-Beep Beep-Beep. The intercom was ringing so Caitlin clicked the button to answer. The voice sounded urgent. "Miss Sutherland. You need to get down here immediately to the 45th floor. Something explainable is happening with the turbo pulse accelerator. It seems to have turned itself on and is malfunctioning. The four of them had their own open-plan office on the 97th floor.

"I could be so much quicker if I could use my speed, you know." Barry said solemnly. He had already changed from his hero suit and into a blue collared shirt and neat blue jeans.

"That might be so, Barry, but you forget that no one else in this facility actually knows who you are." Caitlin told him.

"And I would prefer us keep it that way." Astrid added as she raced towards the elevator, with her friends close behind.

Once in the elevator, Cisco pushed the button to get to the 45th floor. "You worked on that machine, Cisco, why would it be malfunctioning?" Astrid asked him.

"That machine is like a really big fax machine, only instead of sending documents it sends objects. Like a portal would. It has only worked inside the facility. So I am not sure why it would be malfunctioning. It has always been stable."

It only took approximately 30 seconds to reach the floor, and when they had arrived, they found the room a bustle of scientists in white coats, battling furiously with their computers trying to override the system. Over the speaker system the warning sirens were sounding.

In the middle of the room stood a round, metal frame, roughly 12 ft high encasing a large orb of blue swirling energy with white flickers through it. It was humming loudly.

Cisco ran towards the main console and began typing furiously. He stood out from the rest of the room as he was wearing a grey hooded jacket and beige coloured pants. His long hair, hanging over his eyes, just completed his look of a guy who stood out, in this environment, like a sore thumb.

However, this guy had a brilliant mind when it came to any technology, gadget or computer. He may have been smarter than any other scientist in this room and they all knew it.

He looked to the lead scientist beside him. A respectable man of about 50-something named Dr Henry Jackson. "You may need to evacuate the floor, right now!" he told him.

The man began the evacuation protocol immediately at Cisco's request.  
"What is it doing? this doesn't look good, Cisco!" Barry said to his friend. At this point even Cisco looked concerned.

"This machine is being overloaded with energy, someone outside of the facility, is sending us something big." He declared.

"What is so wrong with that? Maybe it is another business or something?" Astrid tried to assure him. "I wish, it was," Cisco replied, still sounding serious.

Around them most of the scientists had been evacuated from the floor. Barry, Astrid, Caitlin, Cisco and Dr Henry Jackson were all that remained in the room. "That is what we were trying to work out Miss Sutherland." Henry chimed in. "Our readings are finding it hard to determine who the other party is, let alone where they are from. Essentially, they do not seem to even be from this planet."

"Are you picking anything up?" Caitlin directed her question to Cisco, who had managed to stop the sirens from blaring, removed the error screens and was still submitting data frantically.

He stopped so abruptly and stared blankly at the pulsating orb, blankly. "That is just not possible." "What?" the rest of them all asked in unison.

Cisco began to step closer towards the orb, still with that blank expression on his face. He himself could not believe these readings. But he knew it to be true. He had seen it in his vision. "An entirely separate universe completely." He replied.

"What? But that is not possible! How is that possible?" Astrid knew that Cisco was telling the truth. She did not have to remove her bracelet to know that one. When Cisco said something, even if it sounded impossible, he wasn't one to lie. Especially about something as serious as this.

The energy from the pulsating orb began to hum even louder now and began to sound like a thunderstorm was taking place inside of it.

The white flickers changed its colour to red and yellow. They resembled lightning bolts. The group could barely believe their eyes when all of a sudden… BOOM! CRASH! BANG!

They all jumped back and stared, astonished, at what… More like whom had come crashing through from the turbo pulse accelerator!

Before their very eyes was a very familiar looking man in a red leather suit, complete with a red mask, covering his eyes. He was kneeling before them and stood up slowly. A yellow lightning bolt emblem fixed to his chest and as he stood tall and removed his mask, they all knew at that moment why they had found him so familiar.

Barry was speechless. He was staring at himself. The only difference was that this man was roughly 10 years older than him.

The newcomer finally spoke. There was a sense of urgency in his tone. "Barry! I have come from another Earth, from another time. This may come of a big shock to you, but your world is in danger, and only you and your friends can help."

Astrid, at this point remembered that Henry was still in the room. "Henry, you should probably leave the room."

"No! he is perfectly fine there. He needs to know this." The older Barry spoke with such conviction, "He is a meta-human too and his abilities will prove useful."

"A meta-what?" Caitlin asked confused.  
"That's what we call them in my world." Older Barry replied, "humans with gifts like your own." "Meta-human. I like that!" Cisco replied, nodding approvingly with a smile.

Astrid removed her bracelet, subtly. She needed to work out who this familiar looking stranger was. Was he friend or foe?

"I don't know what you are talking about." Henry spoke uneasily. Astrid knew he was lying. But what was his gift? She tried to probe his mind, but somehow had come up against a wall.

That never happened to her. What was his secret? It strained her mind as she tried to knock down the mental wall. She tried to focus on older Barry's mind. 'I'm a friend, Astrid. You have nothing to fear from me.' He mentally told her.

"Wait! How did you do that?" She stammered. "How did you know what I was doing?"  
"He is from the future, Remember?" Cisco said casually. He was enjoying this all too much. It was exciting to him. She could see that.

'You Astrid, are an anomaly.' Older Barry continued to speak only to her, using her skills of mind reading so that no one else could hear. 'You do not exist in my world, but you do exist in only one other world than this.

That world will use you to destroy this one, and all other worlds with it. Including my own. I was sent here to stop that from happening. You can speak to me using this skill, it is part of your ability, you have your own channel for communication to talk to anyone if you use it correctly.'

'How would I do that?' Astrid was curious but she did not speak with her mouth, just her thoughts. 'You are doing it now. I can hear your thoughts I just needed you to open the connection pathway.' The man in red told her.

"Wow!" Astrid said aloud. "I er… I think I need to sit down! This is giving me a headache!" She turned from the group and sat down on a chair at a nearby desk with her head in her hands. This was all too much to bare.

"I do not get what is going on here," Henry spoke again, "How did you come through our machine and where do you come from?"

"We call my earth, Earth one. This one is called Earth 27. Your future will experience an explosion at the fault of another Earth, being linked to this one and using that connection to destroy every other universe out there that exists. This other Earth is known as Earth Prime.

I was sent here to inform you of this and to guide you down the right path to help you fight this problem before it arises and destroys every known universe."

"You want us to change the future? But isn't the future already set in stone? Wouldn't it just cause some major catastrophe if we even tried?" young Barry asked.

"Don't worry We have that all covered. We just need you all to do your part." Older Barry said, looking over to Astrid who was now looking over at all of them. He then looked back at Cisco. "Oh! I have something for you Mr Ramon,"

He pulled out a small metallic box, the size of his fist and handed it over to Cisco. "It is from a friend. He told me, to tell you, that you will know what to do with it when the time is right."

Cisco accepted the small gadget. He couldn't for the life of him determine what it was but the very idea of it had him excited to the core. "this is so cool!" he exclaimed like a child at Christmas.

He immediately raced over to Astrid to show it to her and began working on it on the seat right next to her. Astrid felt her composure return. She stood up and walked back towards the rest of the group.

Older Barry spoke again to Henry Jackson. "For the fate of everyone you need to tell them what you have been hiding. This plan will only work if we all cooperate."

Finally, he turned to Caitlin. "How are you at using your abilities? Do you have full control over them? Over… yourself?" "Yeah, of course I do!" Caitlin was puzzled by this question.

He seemed quite unsure of her and Astrid needed to know why. She probed into his mind and saw it. She gasped! For what she saw was the doppelganger of her friend. Only, this other woman seemed to be pure cold. As if her own heart had been frozen to the core and there was no ounce of kindness in her.

Older Barry knew at that moment just why she had gasped. He looked at her and spoke to Astrid using her telekinetic link. 'Please look after her or she will be the one to tear your group apart.' Astrid nodded. She tried to smile to comfort Caitlin's doubts, but knew that Caitlin was not fooled. Nevertheless, Caitlin said nothing.

The truth was, that although Astrid believed just what future was Barry saying, she was so scared about all of this. Was she really an anomaly? Something that was completely against the natural order of things?

She couldn't be so sure of any of this. Sure she had always believed in the possibility of alternate universes but there had never been any solid proof. This theory had never been debunked or even proven, for that matter.

"So, if we are supposed to stop… or change any of this," Astrid began, "I suppose we will need to work out how to access this other earth and… I don't know… start from there? Maybe?"

She was asking for future Barry's confirmation. She did not know where to start with any of this. "That would be the best place to start." He responded, "But that is all I can really help with. I need to go back to my earth. You will know in time, just how to reach me, when you need my help."

He took a step towards the still pulsating orb and in the blink of an eye The Flash was gone.


	3. Chapter 3 - Earth Prime

Astrid awoke. She needed to get to work, her shift at the Chestnut hospital started in an hour and she needed to get her mind off of last night's dream. This man, that had the face of her friend, and had told them all about their upcoming doom had her a little stunned.

She felt as if that maybe he had been speaking of her waking world. But that was just a ridiculous notion. These dreams really needed to stop impacting her this way. There was nothing in reality that could destroy the fate of her universe, let alone 'every other universe' out there.

She was silly for even considering that she might be something other than ordinary. Astrid showered, had some breakfast and checked her phone. 5:32am. She still had 30 minutes until her shift started. She got in her car and drove to work.

Fortunately, her friend Chelsea was just finishing the night shift and was preparing to go through the list of patients with the rest of the day staff. "You look like you didn't get enough sleep, Astrid!" "Trust me, I did! But I feel how I look." She joked. "But how was last night?"

"Not too bad I suppose, one person was bleeding out, so we had to help him. We are also being admitted a psychiatric patient. He has been cutting himself, though oddly enough it is not classed as a suicide attempt. He used to be a doctor until he was considered mentally unstable."

"Is he dangerous?" Astrid asked. "Why would they keep him here and not upstairs?" "For some reason they believe he isn't a threat. But he will be here by 9.30am this morning."

Chelsea ran through the remainder of the patients then left ready to head home. Astrid began her rounds and then started the admission process for their new patient who would be admitted.

Finally, by 10am the new patient was admitted and laying in his bed in his single person room and was requiring fresh bandages to his arms. He seemed like a very friendly man, though quite a bit frazzled.

He was tall, slim, with dark hair and blue eyes, His notes said that he was 52 years of age. Approximately two decades older than Astrid. "Good Morning, Harrison Wells. You're a doctor, I see" Astrid spoke to him, trying to build a rapport with the man. "Yes, I am… was… until the day that they didn't believe me. They thought I was crazy! But I will show them. Astrid, we will show them!"

Astrid looked down at her name badge. It was evident that she hadn't yet given her name to the patient, so she assumed that he had read it from her badge. She decided to humour the man, to stay on his good side and to avoid getting him angry.

"Yes, Dr Wells we shall show them. What shall we show them?"  
"That the end is coming. They will all be obliterated if we don't stop it in time. But its all my fault! All my fault that it is happening. I shouldn't have done it! No I shouldn't have done it. But it is already in motion and it has been coming for some time."

Astrid was frightened a little. But she considered that these were just the ramblings of a mad man and not to be taken seriously.

"When will this happen, Dr Wells? Do you know?" she asked him softly.  
"In exactly 8 months and 25 days." He responded sternly. "All the worlds will explode and it will be because of us, Astrid." He took hold of her hand. "…all because of us. Unless we do something. Unless you do something. Only you can help them and me and your friends. Please Astrid. Please help us all!" The man pleaded with Astrid.

He was needing reassurance. Just like she needed reassurance with her crazy notion of alternate universes. But there was an eerie coincidence to this man and her dreams. Such similar stories.

"Shh. Its ok Dr Wells. I promise you I will do what I can to help. But first I need to change your bandage and clean your wound. Is that ok?"

It was as if a light had gone on in the man's mind. "Oh yes! The message! You need to see the message! Only you will know what it means!" He gave her his bandaged left arm and she put her gloves on and readied her equipment.

"Hurry, you need to be quicker," Dr Wells said as she begun to peel off the adhesive bandage from his forearm. "You need to read it!"

"Read wha-" She stopped in mid-sentence and gaped at the engraved message in his arm. The blood was still fresh in some places but the words were still very clearly written.

ASTRID USE YOUR GIFTS TO STOP THE END!  
She could not move, could not continue to clean the wounds. She was frozen stiff.

"Quick bandage it up before someone else sees it!" He demanded but took the bandage from her and did it himself. He clearly knew how to dress a wound, this was evident.

Astrid came to her senses and cleaned the rubbish away quickly. She needed to leave the room as soon as possible. She had to get out of there. She could feel her breath quickening. She felt dizzy.

She rushed back to the nurse's station and told them she was going on her coffee break. She needed it. She needed to think straight for right now she could barely think at all.

She stood at her locker and focused on her breathing. Why would that stranger's arm say that? Had this man been stalking her? But why would he even do such a thing? He had no idea who she even was! Despite reading her name badge that is.

"Astrid? Are you OK? You look as if you are having a panic attack!" Astrid looked up to see Dr Emma Jackson standing in front of her. She was particularly young but also pretty bright and one of the few doctors that Astrid got along with outside of work.

"I think I just might be." Astrid responded, focusing on her breathing. "Here sit down and tell me what happened."

"Just one of our new patients. He is a little mentally unstable. He just said a few things and they sort of scared me. I am also not sure if anyone has read just what has been engraved into his arm."

"I saw that. I was actually going to ask you earlier if you knew the man at all."  
"No. No I have never met him in my entire life."

"You're sure?"  
"I am absolutely positive, what do you know about the man?" Astrid asked her. She needed reassurance that this man was not a stalker who had been watching her for quite some time.

"I really cannot say Astrid. I had hoped that they wouldn't have asked you to do his admission. Look I am going to write a prescription for you to go home early. You look too frazzled to work any more."

"Emma, really. I am fine. I can do my job."  
"It is not that, Astrid. Look, I want you to go home. Get some rest. Come back in the morning. You will be fine. Ok?"

Dr Jackson headed for the door leaving Astrid with her thoughts to get her belongings and go home.

What was going on here? Then it dawned on Astrid. 'Dr Jackson...' Astrid thought to herself, 'Dr Jackson… Where have I heard that name before?' Then she remembered. She just needed to know.

As Astrid was leaving, she saw Dr Emma again. "I let your supervisor know that you are heading home. I want you to try and relax, and keep me informed if you have any more of those panic attacks, OK?"

"I will. May I ask you something, Emma?"  
"Sure you can." Dr Jackson responded.  
"What is your father's name?"  
"I do not see how this is relevant to your predicament. But his name is Henry. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Astrid lied, This was all to coincidental for her liking. Casually she turned and left. She headed right out the door and hurried towards her car. She knew where she was heading. To the Sleep Research Centre to speak to Dr Fullton. Her appointment was not for a couple more days but she needed to do it now. There was just too many coincidences going on.

Why would that psychiatric patient have her name carved into his arm? What was going on here? She needed answers! She needed them now!

"I'm here to see Dr Fullton!" Astrid said to the receptionist, once she had arrived at the Sleep Research Centre.  
"Do you have an appointment?" The red head lady at the desk asked her.  
"Not until Friday. But it is urgent. Please! Tell him Astrid Sutherland is here to speak to him. Please."

"Astrid Sutherland? Your Psychologist referred you to him, am I correct?" she asked adjusting her glasses.  
"Yes she did." Astrid said with impatience.  
"I was going to tell you to wait until Friday, but that actually changes things. Sit down and I will call him and send you up immediately."

"Thank you so much!" Astrid said excitedly and sat down on the waiting room chair.  
She remembered the bloody message clearly in her mind. Telling her to 'use her gifts'. She wondered if she had and figured that it was worth a shot.

She looked around at a mother smiling at her toddler on the other side of the waiting room. She focused hard on what the mother might be thinking. Nope! It was useless! That man must have been crazy. The mother noticed Astrid staring at her. "Hi," The mother said politely. "What are you here for."

Astrid said the first thing that came to mind. "Sleep apnoea." She was in no mood to be friendly at this moment. She looked down at the floor and rubbed her temples with her fingers. She could feel a headache coming on.

"Astrid Sutherland." She looked up at who had called her name. An older man of about 60, dressed in a suit was standing before her. "I am Dr Fullton. I understand you wanted to see me early. It just so happens that I have a slot to book you in. So if you will follow me, we can begin."

Astrid followed the doctor through a long corridor, into an elevator to the 2nd floor and into an office. The office had a desk and a seat and a large window looking into a room with a bed. To the right of the window was a door going into the room.

"Your psychologist put through all your paperwork this morning. Your case is a very interesting one, so I am eager to get started, if you are."

Astrid nodded, "how does this whole thing work?" she wondered.  
"I will give you a sedative which should make you fall asleep instantly. As you fall asleep you will be connected up to this machine which will monitor your vitals and your brain waves.

I can also monitor you to see if you begin talking, or walking or doing any other activities in your sleep. I have performed this procedure multiple times in the past, so everything is very safe."

"I am eager to get started." Astrid told him and it wasn't long before she had taken the tablets and was laying on the bed connected up to the machine. From the adjoining room, Dr Fullton spoke through a microphone, which sounded out over a speaker in her room.

"Miss Sutherland, I would like for you to begin counting down from 10," he told her.  
Astrid nodded, and began counting. "10, 9, 8…"


	4. Chapter 4 - Earth 27

Jitters was busy that afternoon with patrons buying and drinking coffee at the tables, that lined the cafe. While Barry, Cisco and Caitlin found a table, Astrid went to order their coffees at the counter.

There were multiple people in front of her, but for the first time, this did not phase her in the slightest. Her mind was elsewhere. They had sent the entire floor home early, Dr Henry Jackson included.

"Is this place always so busy?" A voice startled her from behind. A ruggedly handsome guy, roughly a couple years older than her, was standing right behind her. He had a stubbly appearance, striking brown eyes and dark hair. He had dimples when he smiled and it immediately made her blush. "Hi, the name is Jeremy."

"Hi Jeremy, I assume that you are new to town, It normally is busy at this time of day!"  
"You would be correct by that assumption." He replied, "I suppose it would be too much to ask for your number and maybe the chance that you might show me around town some time?"

"You're very smooth. Do you know that? Very very subtle." Astrid chuckled to herself. She was trying to keep her composure around this guy. His brown eyes made it hard.

"I take it that that would be a no?"

"Do you even know my name, buddy?"  
"That I do know. I overheard your friends over there mention it when you walked in. I finally just managed to build up the courage to ask you out. I probably sound like some sort of creep, don't I?"

"A little bit." She said with a smile, "You never know, I might have a boyfriend that you don't know about."

"You might, but judging by the way you entered the cafe, it probably is not one of them guys," he gestured to her friends, who were sitting at the table watching her with puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Why would you assume that?"  
"Because… because if you were my girlfriend I wouldn't go anywhere with you unless I was holding your hand. A beautiful girl such as yourself would attract too much attention. Those guys over there look like the smart type, I believe they would be the same way."

Astrid was speechless. She turned her back to him. She was next up to order. The waitress at the counter was also swooning over the guy's good looks. "Can I get 2 lattes, an espresso and a cappuccino, please?"

"That will be $13.70 thank you."  
Astrid paid for the drinks and tried not to look back at Jeremy. She looked over at Caitlin who was mouthing to her that the guy was cute.

Astrid felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and checked the message. It was from Cisco. 'Who's the guy?' She ignored his message and put the phone back in her pocket.

"I take it that that was your boyfriend?" Jeremy asked pointing at her phone. Astrid could only wish. They had been friends for such a long time.

The first time that she had met him she had kissed him in the school yard, by dare, without even knowing his name. But so it turned out 'kiss that guy over there' did not actually mean to Cisco. The dare had been meant for someone else and she had been mistaken.

Nevertheless, the two had become inseparable from that moment, despite the occasional awkward tension between the two that occurred from time to time.

"Actually, you were right with your assumptions. I don't actually have a boyfriend. So what the hell! If you like pick me up later tonight, I'll message you my address, you can take me on a date."

Astrid turned and wrote her name and number down on a napkin on the counter and handed it to Jeremy, just in time for her coffees to be served to her. "Are you going to be OK carrying them? I can help!" Jeremy offered.

"Sure." Astrid responded and picked up two of the cups and allowed Jeremy to pick up the other two. She led him back to the table and handed one espresso to Cisco and the cappuccino to Barry.

Jeremy placed the other two cups on the table and smiled politely at her friends, who were watching him with a keen interest. "I suppose I will see you later tonight?" Jeremy suggested with a smile. "I will see you then," she smiled back and she watched as he left their table and sat back with his friends.

"You're going on a date tonight! After everything that is going on, you are going on a date." Cisco seemed rather annoyed about the news.

"I think it is a good idea. When was the last time you went on a date, Astrid? I really can't remember!" Caitlin chimed in, "plus he is cute! We should be fine one night without you."

"You're sure?" Astrid asked her. "Yes! Go!" Caitlin and Barry both spoke at the same time. But Cisco protested. "No! You don't know anything about him. He could be a creep. He seemed creepish."

Astrid glared at him. "I don't see what your problem is Cisco Ramon. I am going. It is one night. It is not like I am getting married to the guy."

Barry and Caitlin both looked at Cisco who looked down at his cup and then at the newspaper in front of him. "Speaking of Astrid dating. Remember Ollie? He has been making the news in Sterling city again. That guy knows the Arrow!"

"Wait! You went out with Oliver Queen?" Caitlin was gob-smacked.  
"Oh wow! That was years ago. We only dated for a few months. Our fathers were friends. In fact, his father actually invested some money into Sutherland Labs to get it up off the ground."

"Wow, so what happened between the two of you?" Caitlin asked.  
"We just weren't right for each other. That's all."  
"Ahem! Now she is being modest. You broke up with him, Remember?" Cisco corrected her.

"Really? Why would you do that? He was recently ranked one of the most attractive bachelors." Caitlin was swooning over his picture in the newspaper.

"We were young and I was just too... into someone else. It didn't seem right!" She took a sip of her latte and hoped that it was the end of the story. But it wasn't. "Do you think he really knows The Arrow? It says right here that he does."

"I don't know." Astrid responded. She thought back at the time when she had gone to visit Ollie upon discovering that she had her powers and after hearing of her father's death. She had needed his advice on running a big corporation.

She had been attacked and The Arrow had rescued her, only to find that it had all been a trap. The criminals had caught The Arrow and had even unmasked him, revealing to her his true identity. She had remained tight-lipped about it this whole time and would continue still.

The only other person that she knew, who also knew Oliver Queen's secret, was Barry. She had introduced him to The Arrow when he was really struggling with his newfound identity.

Astrid looked up at Barry and bit her bottom lip. He nodded and said. "So this date tonight, will you wear your bracelet?"

"Good question! I think this time you should take it off, but keep it on you just in case. At least if you can read his mind you can determine if he is a creep!" Cisco stated.

"But if you spend the entire night reading his mind, doesn't it take away the opportunity for a surprising date?" Caitlin asked.

Astrid weighed up both her options. I suppose I will see how tonight goes. If I feel that things are getting uncomfortable. I will take it off, how does that sound?"

Cisco nodded, but was still disappointed. "I need to get back to the Labs. I have work to do. I need to look into that thing that future me sent us." And with that he stormed off.

"I'm going to need your help, Caitlin, to pick something out to wear." Barry glanced over Astrid's shoulder, as Iris made her way towards the group. "Barry can we talk for a moment?" "That's our cue, Caitlin. Let's go!" and with that Astrid and Caitlin left Barry to chat with Iris.

Astrid always found Iris and Barry's situation awkward. Barry loved her. They lived together and had done so since detective Joe West had adopted him to live with he, Iris and her brother, after the death of his parents when he was a young boy. The two were best friends, just like Astrid and Cisco. She felt that may have been the reason being around them both always made her feel uncomfortable.

Later that day, Jeremy had messaged Astrid, and had arranged to pick her up from her address at 7pm. It was now almost time and she was relatively nervous about the whole date thing. She felt her phone go off in her jeans pocket.

She pulled out her phone and checked the message. It was from Cisco. 'Good luck tonight' it said. She smiled to herself and was going to reply but she heard a knock at the door.

She adjusted her bracelet on her wrist and answered the door. Just as she had guessed, it was Jeremy. "I hope you don't mind that I am a little early. I also rented a limousine, but something tells me by the fact that you live in a house like this, that it will not be your first time in one."

"I take it that you do not know who my father is… was."  
"No I don't, who was it?" Jeremy asked.  
"That's a story for another time. I'm just glad to find someone who doesn't know who I am."

Jeremy nodded and added "You look great by the way!" Astrid smiled at the compliment, "Thanks, I guess. I will be out in a minute, just give me a moment to lock up, please."

Jeremy waited outside as she did so and then led her out to the limousine where the driver was holding the door opened for them both. She climbed in followed by Jeremy. He poured her a glass of champagne, from the fridge inside, and she took a small sip. "So where are we headed?" she asked, still nervous. She took another sip.

It was certainly a beautiful brand. She had tried it before. Only this time it had a very different effect on her. She felt a sense of weakness swim over her. entire body. Her muscles began to weaken so quickly. She dropped her glass on the floor of the limousine, champagne spilt. Her phone fell out of her pocket as she sank down into her seat. She felt dizzy and could feel herself becoming paralysed by the moment. She tried to speak but could barely murmur as her tongue felt as heavy as a brick.

"Just relax." Jeremy told her, as he took her phone and threw it out the window "You will not fall asleep but that champagne that you just drank is made to temporarily paralyse all of your muscles. I'm sorry about this, beautiful. But we need you to help us trap The Flash and word has it that you are pretty close friends with the guy."

She was brought to an abandoned warehouse, gagged and chained up to a large wooden post inside, with her arms above her head. They felt so heavy now, that they hurt. There were now at least 20 men. She wanted to pull of her bracelet, but she couldn't. All of her muscles had gone limp, even her head was lolling about.

She had been there for a while now, just listening to the men. She felt her muscles slowly gaining strength, but she was still not yet strong enough to lift a finger, let alone raise her head. However, she was able to make some slurred speech.

Jeremy approached her. "Hi Beautiful, how are you doing? I lied to you earlier, you know when I told you that I had no idea who you were. Of course I would know that you are one of the riches people in Central City. Which reminds me. I noticed your bracelet earlier. It looked pretty damn expensive! With all those gems encrusted into it.

She didn't want to tell him that it wasn't all that expensive. The stones were just an assortment of meteor rocks crafted together to prevent her from using her abilities. It was made from the same materials fashioned by all the 'meta-humans' in prison.

He snatched the bracelet from her wrists, scratching her hand in the process. This gave her the chance to use her ability. She focused her mind on his. She focused hard. What was the guy thinking? 'Red is going to love this thing! Just as he will love the keys to this girl's mansion. Once The Flash arrives we will have him. Our trap is set and he will die and so will she.'

"You really are quite beautiful." He told her, stroking his hand across her face, menacingly. She tried to tell him to go away but it barely a muffled response. She hated this lack of control over her body, but at least she had her mind.

Jeremy left and soon returned with a laptop and pointed it at her. "Flash! We have the late Mr Sutherland's daughter." She lolled her head up slowly and saw that he was recording her. "We are going to play a little game. If you can find us and catch us in 5 minutes, you can have her alive. If it takes you longer… Well then you will receive her in pieces. Tick Tock!"

With that he left her alone. She was relieved to find that she now had more strength in her neck. She twisted it up to the roof, looking for any signs of cameras. She knew that if her friends knew where she was that Cisco could hack into them.

She spotted one up ahead in the roof. There was a small green flickering light on it. Good sign. But then she realised, how would they find her? Jeremy had thrown her phone out the window of the limousine!

How would they track her now? The IP address that could work. She concentrated her hearing on the men who were speaking. "Did you block the IP address?" "Of course I did. Their hacker would have a hard time tracking us down." Astrid's heart sank a little, 'surely Cisco will find a way' she continued to tell herself.'

A sense of relief struck through her when she heard one of the men exclaim, "Did you hear that? He's here, He's outside!"

"We got him he's down! The net worked! He's not moving!" These voices were coming from outside, there were still approximately 10 men inside the warehouse with her.

'No, No, No, Barry!' Astrid tried to think to Barry. Just as she had with the older Barry from earlier. There was a wall up, and not just because he was outside. She could feel his breathing was slowing down. He was out cold. 'Come on! Wake up! Barry! Please.' It wasn't working, she knew that it wasn't.

The Flash, along with his super speed, also had a quick regeneration rate. 'He should have healed himself by now.' Astrid told herself in her mind.  
"The electric net is working!" One of the men cried out.

She wanted to scream, but her mouth was gagged and she could barely speak. She wanted to cry, but she didn't have enough strength.  
So she did the only thing she could do. She screamed in her mind. She screamed so loudly and screamed for ages. She could have sworn that her scream was coming from her mouth though it wasn't.

She watched as the men in the warehouse began clutching their ears and screaming out in pain. It stunned her. She noticed why. Their ears were bleeding. It was as if they had all suffered from brain aneurysms. They collapsed to their feet, they didn't seem to be dead, just out cold.

Astrid was stunned. Did she just cause that? No! That was simply not possible!

"Did you hear that? Something just dropped in the warehouse!" One of the men from outside shouted.  
"Well go look inside! find out what it was, you morons!" Two more men entered the warehouse. They were shocked by the sight that beheld them. "What did you do?" One man charged up to her, while the other continued to inspect the bodies, he kicked one for it to move. Nope, not dead! It moved Astrid felt slightly relieved.

The man who had charged her pulled out a knife and aimed it for her throat. Astrid screamed in her mind again. The same way and both of those men collapsed the same way that the men had before.

"Hey what do you think you guys are doing in there… wait what…." There was a loud crash and a bang and in a short moment later Barry walked into the warehouse. He was fine! He looked over at all the bodies on the floor. And raced over, using his speed to free her. She fell to her feet but she could finally manage to speak. "They… I… I did this. I don't know how but I did."

"It is OK. We can go now." Barry said, picking her up, after realising that she could barely stand. "I need my bracelet… Jeremy … he took it! He thought…"  
"Shh… I will find it. We need to keep quiet or they will wake up." Barry tried to comfort his friend and locate Jeremy's body at the same time.  
When he had found the bracelet, he used his speed to return, a still in shock Astrid, back to Sutherland Labs."

What the hell happened there?" Cisco questioned Astrid, once they had returned. Caitlin had given her some medication to reverse the paralysis effects.

"I did something… something scary. I thought that Barry was dead and I screamed… only it was in my mind and…" Astrid could barely comprehend what she had done.

"She is in shock," Caitlin said, "I don't think any of us knew that that was possible."

Cisco sat on the medical bay bed next to Astrid. "As scary as that was, it was pretty cool!"

"No it wasn't! I could have killed those men!"

"But you didn't, Astrid. You protected yourself and you gave Barry a chance to recover from that electric net that they had laid for him," Cisco was trying to make her feel better. It was not working. "Next time, will you believe me if I tell you that a guy is a creep?"

Astrid ignored his question "How did you guys find me? He threw my phone out the window before we arrived to that warehouse." Barry and Caitlin both looked at Cisco.

Who looked a little uneasy as he spoke "I may have placed a tracker on the bracelet when I built it." Astrid looked down at the bracelet in her hands that she had been fumbling with this whole time. She stood up and faced him sternly.

"So let me get this straight! You were angry at me for having powers that could invade your privacy, even though I never intentionally used my ability to do so. But then you go and stick a tracker into my bracelet so you can find out wherever I am at the drop of a hat?"

Cisco stood up. He knew that he was in trouble. "It worked didn't it? If I hadn't have done so we wouldn't have found you in time."

"You really don't get it do you, Cisco. I am not going to wear it anymore! Instead I am going to keep using my powers. I will just learn to control them. If you don't trust me, well that's your problem!"

She threw the bracelet on the floor and went into her office slamming the door shut behind her, so hard she thought it would smash the bulletproof glass, thankfully it didn't.

She sat down in her chair, elbows on the desk and her forehead cradled in the palms of her hands. She closed her eyes and tried to shut off her mind. She heard her door open and close again, softly.

She looked up, and lowered an arm down to the desk, so that only her left palm was clutching the side of her forehead, and she could see the intruder. "What do you want, Cisco?" She questioned him, annoyance written clearly throughout, her tone. He looked uncomfortable in his own skin. he looked as though he wanted to speak, but then held back.

She resisted the urge to read his mind. He went to speak again but stopped himself.  
"What is your problem, Cisco? I am not going to read your mind this time! So I really don't know what you want."

"Okay…" he began, "I am sorry! I never should have put a tracker into the bracelet without telling you. But I promise I only ever used it to track you when it was urgent."

He was waiting for her to say something, maybe apologise? She wasn't too sure. But she wanted to know what he was waiting for. He was pacing at the door and seemed nervous, she needed to know what he was thinking. But No! she would not do that. No mind-reading. "I forgive you, I understand why you would do it. I am relieved that you found me. But it is the same with my abilities.

I will not use them on you, or Caitlin or Barry unless it is important. You guys are my friends I will not betray any of your trust. You should know that you can trust me by now. You have known me longer than anyone." Astrid ran her left hand through her long hair and then went back to resting her head in her hand.

Cisco Ramon took the seat opposite her at the desk and rested his chin on his hands, he seemed much more relaxed. She was waiting for some comedic line. "Your new power was pretty bad-ass though! I mean those guys went down like that!" he clicked his fingers for emphasis. "A mind-scream, hey?"

"Yep! A mind-scream." Astrid confirmed, she wanted to change the mood. To show that she was no longer furious with him. "Do you realise we have cool names for all you guys? The Flash, Killer Frost and Vibe but I never wanted one. I suppose, I just never thought I needed one… an alter ego. Well, until now! Those crooks might realise what I have done. What I am capable of. I need a disguise."

"You want one now? I have had one lined up for ages."  
"Throw it at me, Vibe." She said with a grin.  
"Mind-Marvel!"  
"Mind-Marvel," she repeated aloud, to herself. "I like it."

"I also have a suit lined up for you." His face was roughly inches from hers, she wanted to kiss him, but didn't. "The suit is pretty bad-ass!" he continued, he began to inch closer to her and gave a charming smile that made his brown eyes light up, and her heart skipped a beat.

All of a sudden, the door to her office opened, startling them both. It was Barry. "Sorry to interrupt, I thought you might want to know that I slipped word to detective Joe about the men at the warehouse." Joe was the father of Iris and foster father of Barry, as well as the detective that worked at the police station with them.

"Oh Barry. How did that go? I didn't kill anyone? Did I?" Astrid asked diverting her full attention to him. She was slightly disappointed by the interruption but she needed to be reassured that she had not committed a murder. She wouldn't know how to live with herself.

"No, you didn't, Joe was able to have them all arrested. But that group, was responsible for a string of robberies, kidnappings and murders for quite a while. Turns out they are a group who oppose the meta-humans too. Run by a man named Red. Joe is relieved that we caught them as they have been putting up quite the chase for sometime now."

"Did you say Red? Jeremy mentioned his name." Astrid recalled. "Was that the man who you fought with?" "No he wasn't, Red wasn't there, so we will need to track him down." "And we will," Cisco chimed in, "I will go and analyse the sample or we won't have a chance." He stood up and left the room in a hurry.

"Are you and he friends again?" Barry asked when Cisco was out of sight.  
"Yep, I think so." Astrid said, "What happened to you Barry? How did they overcome you? What was the electric net that they used?"

"Caitlin said that it was made from some sort of new technology. We haven't encountered it until now. But I managed to go back and retrieve some powered down samples of the technology while you rested. But it is scary! It slowed me down, even my regeneration speed."

"Is it like the technology that we make here? The same stuff in the prison handcuffs? Maybe it has fallen into the wrong hands." Barry led Astrid out the room and to the display table in the main office.

Pieces of the metal netting had been laid out and Caitlin and Cisco were both studying it. "This is nothing like the tech we have here. This stuff is much more advanced!" Cisco declared.

"Do you think it has something to do with…you know time travel?" Caitlin asked him.  
Cisco raced back to his computer and pulled the metal box from beside it. "It seems future me has discovered micro-technology too… That is so cool! But I always leave my signature in my work." Future Cisco had clearly left his signature in the metal box, but Astrid had no clue what it was.

He placed the box beside the netting. "This netting is a form of micro-technology but it is not my work. Or future Cisco's work, for that matter."  
"So it is from that universe? Or from maybe another universe that has micro-technology? How many alternate worlds are there again?" Astrid asked.

"Too many to count," a new voice broke into their conversation. It was Dr Henry Jackson. "and the technology is from future Barry Allen's world. In secret, I have been researching the science behind alternate universes and until today I have been at a loss. But now I have worked it out! That man was correct! I do indeed have a gift. But until now I had no clue on how it could help with whatever is to come. You see I can control dreams."

"Dreams? What are talking about? How can dreams prevent what is to come?" Caitlin had asked him the question that was on all of their lips.  
"You see, when we dream our minds make up images, thoughts and fantasies that are distorted versions of reality. Some cultures believe that they can remember past lives through dreaming. When it comes to parallel universes we all have someone who shares the exact DNA as us.

My theory is to find an anchor from this world to that world. Earth Prime. To reach them through their dreams and contact them. Theoretically speaking, it should open a pathway of communication from us to them. They might be able to find out what is coming. They might be able to help us."

"…In theory?" Astrid questioned him.  
"I see where this is going." Cisco chimed in, "but what are the chances of that being able to work? And if it did work, wouldn't it be possible for that communication pathway to be hacked, like one would with a computer network."

"That is where we would need an anomaly, someone who only has one doppelganger…" Astrid said softly, referring to her secret conversation with future Flash. "A very strong willed, mentally resistant person."

Cisco raised his eyebrows at her and shook his head "No, No, No! You're not going to be subjected to that. Besides you're not exactly an anomaly are you. There would have to be multiple versions of you in other worlds."

"I am an anomaly! Future Barry told me there is only one other me, and she exists in that world. Even if I am not, I am the only chance we have!"

"Astrid is right! She would be the best person that I can think of for the job." Barry defended her case, "This sounds impossible, but it is the only plan we have. Besides her mind abilities can help on the other side. And you Cisco, if we plan this correctly you have the chance to see her other self, with your visions, to see how she is going. But we need that link. It will have to be through her dreams."

Caitlin looked at the ground and back at Astrid. She wanted to argue with Astrid. But she knew how stubborn her friend was. She would do this with or without her help. And now was the time that Astrid needed her the most.

"Cisco, I know you don't like this idea," Astrid said to him, "But it's the best shot we have. The fate of everyone rests in our hands."  
"Open your eyes! None of this makes sense!"

"No, none of it makes sense, but then again none of our reality makes sense." Caitlin was now backing Astrid, "Five years ago we were just a group of colleagues working for Mr Sutherland, no abilities, nothing! And look at us now! We could never predict any of this!"

"I get all of this, I do," Cisco was defeated, "But what if we do connect to the other side and something happens, and its too much. It could really screw with your mind, Astrid."

"Well that is a chance I am willing to take," Astrid had made up her mind. There was no turning back from it. She turned to Dr Jackson, "When do we start?"

"Whenever you're ready." He replied.  
"I'll prepare the bed, I am sure you have machines ready for this." Caitlin questioned the doctor.  
"I do, I built them myself, but this is the first time I have used them." He responded. "What?!" Cisco sneered at him, "I will check over them before we even start this thing."


	5. Chapter 5 - Between Worlds

Chapter 5  
Between Worlds

It wasn't long until the group stood around Astrid, who was sitting on the bed, in Caitlin's medical bay, her head connected by wires to the machine on the desk. Cisco had been sure to go over the machine to the best of his ability.

"So these machines do what exactly?" Astrid asked Dr Jackson.  
"These ones will monitor your brainwaves, these ones will monitor your vitals and these ones will monitor where your consciousness is at each time." He replied pointing to each wire at a time.

"And I will hold your hand so I can see what you see," Cisco told her, "That way we know that Dr Jackson is telling the truth."  
"Don't worry," Barry told her, "If we lose you, I can shock you back to life."  
"Very reassuring!" she smiled at him sarcastically, he smiled back, "Relax, we won't lose you."

"Are you ready, Astrid?" Caitlin asked her.  
"As ready as I will ever be." She replied.  
"What about you, Dr Jackson. Remember you have her mind in your hands!" She told him, in a threatening manner.  
"I know that and I will do as I said. I want to earn your trust. Just as future Barry said, we all need to trust each other."

Astrid looked at Caitlin, who handed her the sedative and a cup of water, "Take this and get comfortable."

Astrid did as she was told. Cisco sat by her and held her hand. Caitlin shuffled around with the machine behind them. Dr Jackson placed his palm over Astrid's forehead and closed his eyes. Astrid closed her eyes and could feel herself slipping into sleep.

Everything had gone black but she was glowing, like a light. "Astrid, hear my voice." It was Dr Jackson. She could hear him clearly but she could not see him.

"Where am I?" she asked him out loud.  
"You're deep within your own mind, you need to find your way through to the other side. To the other world."

"How would I know where to go? Its dark in here… really dark!"  
"Feel your way through. Follow your intuition."  
'Great advice,' Astrid thought to herself. She took a step forward. Expecting to bump into something, but she didn't.

'OK, that wasn't so bad.' She thought again. She took another step forward. Again there was nothing there. She took a deep breath in. "Here goes nothing!" she spoke out loud to herself and with that she took a deep breath in and ran as fast as she could into the darkness.

She kept running until she saw a tiny white dot up ahead of her, in the distance, and when she saw it she continued to run towards the dot. The dot began to get bigger and bigger until it was nothing more than a large blinding light.

An open doorway to what? She could hear voices but they were not the voices that she knew. She could no longer hear Dr Jackson. The unknown voices were faint, but they got louder and clearer the closer that she got to blinding light.

She continued running to the light and now she was standing at the doorway. She could hear what the voices were saying now. "Miss Sutherland, you can wake up now. Her vitals are returning to normal. Astrid, it's me, Anne. Dr Fullton called me when he could not wake you up.  
"Who are you?" Astrid asked, opening her eyes, surprised at the blonde haired woman with glasses, who was staring at her. She was no longer in Caitlin's medical bay. She was in an entirely different place. Astrid sat up to get a glimpse of her surroundings.

She was in a room with only two chairs, sitting on a bed. It felt like the one in Caitlin's medical bay. "Oh wow! It worked!"  
"What worked, Astrid? Are you OK? Can you remember who I am?"

Astrid looked at the woman. Behind her was a really large window to an adjoining room. In that room a man neatly dressed in a suit was standing up watching them.

"Yes, I remember who you are, of course I do. Why wouldn't I?" She realised that she was in the body of her doppelganger. She wondered if this body held the same power as her. Or if powers even existed in this world.

She focused on the woman sitting beside her. She focused on her mind. This lady was a psychologist. Her name began with an A. 'Anne!' She read it from the woman's mind, as clear as day. She was silently puzzled that her powers still worked. In theory, it did not make sense. But she was glad nonetheless. "Your name is Anne." Astrid told the woman, "You're my psychologist."

Anne sighed a sigh of relief. "Yes, I don't know why I doubted that you were OK. Of course you are OK"  
"I do feel a little out of sorts, I suppose." Astrid told her. She looked down at her own clothing and realised that she was wearing a uniform. This girl worked. But where? and where did she live?

She needed to access her memories but she couldn't. There was no one else but her in this body. Did the girl die? Or… did they somehow swap bodies?She had seen that happen before. Caitlin's former fiance had shared his body with a doctor. Together they formed a being that had helped their group from time to time. Firestorm. Unfortunately, that had ended with the death of him… Poor Ronnie! And Poor Caitlin.

If she had swapped bodies, that would mean that this other Astrid could have reached her body. Her world. Oh No! That can only end badly!  
Once again, Cisco was right. She would never tell him this though, his ego would never let her live it down. If she ever got back to her own body that is. But no matter what happens now, she had come here for a reason. To stop whatever was coming their way. "Look, Anne. I am OK, really I need to get home."

"You should really speak to Dr Fullton first, he has astonishing results from your test."  
"Ok, I will!" She pointed to the man standing at the window to confirm that he was indeed Dr Fullton. Anne nodded, unsure of Astrid's peculiar behaviour.

Astrid stood up and went into the room where Dr Fullton was standing waiting for her. He was holding multiple documents and had a look of shock written all over his face. "I take it that the news isn't good? Doctor?"

Dr Fullton had no idea what to say. Astrid probed his mind. She envisioned a machine, the machine that was sitting right beside him, buzzing uncontrollably until it began to spark and made a loud BANG! It had stopped working. Oops!

"You, destroyed my machine! How did you do it?" He fumed at her.  
"I'm sorry. Maybe it was bad wiring. It cannot have been my fault. I assure you!"  
"No, it can't have been your fault, can it?" he told her and she knew that he was lying this time.

This man was not one to trust. "Can I have my results?" she asked him.  
She could see his hesitation. He didn't want to hand them to her.  
"She can have her results, can't she Dr Fullton?" Anne asked him pointedly.

"Yes, she can have her results. But please Astrid, I ask that you come back for further testing. Something happened today that I really cannot explain with just one assessment."

Astrid took the forms from him and went to leave the room.  
"Astrid! You are forgetting your handbag." Anne held out a handbag to her. 'That white thing must have belonged to the other girl, she has very poor taste,' Astrid thought to herself.

She took it, nonetheless, and ran out of the office as fast as she could and into the corridor. She saw a map of the facility. She needed to find the elevator and go to the ground floor to leave this place. She did so as fast as she could. This facility was dangerous. Maybe it was the best place to start with her mission. But right now was not the time.

The best course of action would be to learn who this Astrid was, to disguise herself with this girl's life and work out where to start from there. She made it to the car park, she needed a car. 'Did this girl even own a car?'

She rummaged through the handbag to find car keys, thankfully, she found a set with a remote. She continued to press the unlock and lock buttons until she could hear which car that it was working for. A small blue hatchback.

She climbed into the driver's seat and was relieved to find a GPS on the dashboard. "I hope this girl was smart enough to input her home details." Astrid said to herself as she turned the ignition on and began fumbling with the buttons on the screen. "Yes!" she had found the address! "Time to see my new home."

Her journey to the girl's home was approximately 45 minutes long. She was in a town called Chestnut. It was roughly three in the afternoon and she found the time and day difference astonishing. It had been just before midnight when they had started the process back at Sutherland Labs.

The house was smaller than what she had anticipated. Maybe she had just become too used to living in her mansion. She fumbled in the handbag pulling out the house keys. She noticed the phone in the bag and took it out, also. She turned the phone on and received a message immediately.

The message was from an Emma. 'How are you feeling?'  
This would be the best place to start in learning who this girl was. She sent back a reply 'OK I guess. Do you want to catch up for drinks later?' She placed the phone in her pocket.

Her plan was simple; to find out who she was through this 'Emma'.  
She fumbled about trying to find the right key to open the door, but finally found it. 'Mental note: It's the gold one!' she thought to herself, with a smile.

Beep-Beep Beep. The phone went off from in her pocket, but she did not take it out. She, instead looked around in the small house. This girl certainly lived alone. There was a room with a couch, a coffee table, a TV and a book shelf. The next room was the kitchen and the dining room combined.

There was a door closed off from the kitchen and a door closed from the room that she was in. She imagined that that one was the bedroom.

She closed and locked the door behind her and checked the phone again. 'Drinks? Sure! Same place as last time?'

Astrid sent back 'Which time was that?'  
The response was 'Aaron's, silly!'

"Whose Aaron?" Astrid asked herself. She searched through the contacts in the phone but there was no one under that name. On the coffee table she noticed a coaster saying 'Aaron's bar'.

She sent Emma back a response, 'Sure, Aaron's sounds fine, See you at 8pm.'


	6. Chapter 6 - Earth 27

"Her vitals are stabilising!" Astrid could hear a familiar female voice. 'I must be in hospital. What happened? to me' she wondered to herself. "Good! We can't lose her again! What were you even thinking? I told you we shouldn't have done this!" A male's voice broke out. She knew this voice all too well, she knew it from her dreams. She must have been dreaming. That was the only possibility!

That would explain the dreaming of vast nothingness that she had experienced. She had been running in pure light. Not an object to be seen around her, until she had reached a doorway of darkness.

This darkness had woken her up, with her eyes still closed. These voices around her. There was no other explanation. She was dreaming. She needed to know for sure. She needed to open her eyes.

"Cisco, look! She is waking up." Another familiar male voice. She opened her eyes. Her head felt as though it were spinning. This dream was feeling all too real. Barry Allen, Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow were all standing around her. As was another man. But who was he? The doctor from the other floor when they had met future Barry. Now she remembered!

'Uh Oh!' She had to pinch herself, this dream was all too real. "Ouch!" She said as her thumb and finger nails broke her skin. 'Nope! Not dreaming!'  
"Astrid? Are you OK? What happened?" Dr Snow was concerned for her.  
"She pinched herself!" Cisco said with a laugh. "What happened?" he asked, "I saw the darkness but then I lost connection with you!"

"I'm sorry! What?" Astrid sat up. "I have got to be dreaming." She got off the bed fast and immediately sat on the chair on the opposite side of the room with her head in her hands. "What is going on here? I must be going insane!"

She looked at the group on the other side of the room, all of them puzzled by her behaviour. She did not want them to move an inch closer to her, in the slightest. "What did you do to her? You screwed with her head! You need to fix it!" Cisco Ramon demanded at the male doctor. What was his name again?

Barry and Caitlin kept her eyes fixed on Astrid. Caitlin motioned for Barry to stay back while she began creeping towards Astrid, as if she were some wounded animal. "Please, stay back. This is all a dream!" Astrid told her.

"No… No, Astrid, we are your friends! It's me Caitlin. I am not going to hurt you, you are awake, you're not asleep." She crouched down beside Astrid, and held out her hand in a manner of friendship.

Astrid took it, unsteadily. "If this is not a dream, then I must be going crazy. You actually know my name." Caitlin looked all the more confused. She did not know how to deal with this situation. Astrid was the psychologist here, not her. But for the sake of her friend, she had to help her. "Astrid, tell me, what do you remember? What happened to you?"

"I fell asleep. Only I was in Dr Fullton's office. He was running some sort of test to monitor me while I slept. Until now, you guys have just been in my dreams. Now… Now you're all around me. I must be going crazy! This isn't right!"

It was Barry that spoke this time to the male doctor. "Doctor Jackson, is it possible for our Astrid to have… switched bodies with this Astrid, in her dream?"

"I don't know," he said softly, concerned for himself at this point. "I suppose it is. We did send Astrid… our Earth's Astrid into her world. So I suppose it may just be possible."

"What!" Cisco and Caitlin yelled at him in unison.  
"Bring her back! Bring Astrid back now!" Cisco boomed at him. Barry sped in front of his friend to calm him down, using his speed ability.

Astrid jumped out of her chair. She was not expecting this! Barry understood his mistake before it was too late. "No! You didn't just do that!" Astrid shrieked at him, her tears running down her face. "How did you do that! That's not possible! How is that possible! No! I don't need to know! I don't want to know! I have to go!"

Astrid ran into the closest room and closed the door, behind her. It was an office. 'Crap!' she thought to herself. 'It wasn't an exit!' She locked the door, anyway and sat down on the chair at the desk, burying her face in her arms.

She was having another panic attack. She began trying to breathe it through. She had to clear her mind from this nonsense. None of it made sense.

Outside the room, Caitlin was trying to figure out how to help the girl and Barry had managed to get Cisco to sit down at the desk and was now discussing the best course of action with Dr Jackson.

"I believe that this was not your intention, but do you know how to fix it?" Barry asked him. "Not unless the girl has the same abilities as the Astrid from this world. But she would also need to trust us, and be willing. Something tells me that we are out of luck in both options."

"She is just scared. Maybe we give her some time." Caitlin said. "All of this has to be of some kind of shock to her. She thinks she has gone crazy, and I don't blame her. I think she will come around. We just need to be patient with her."

Caitlin looked over at Cisco and realised that he was having a hard time of dealing with this. So she approached him softly and sat down. "Astrid will be OK. She is strong enough to handle the other world by herself.

If anything, she will have the upper hand over them. She is smart, and can read people better than anyone else we know. We need to focus our concern on 'this' Astrid." She pointed towards the closed office door, "Don't worry, Cisco. We will get her back."

Cisco looked at his friend. He knew that Caitlin was right. He knew Astrid better than anyone. When Astrid's father had died and left her to run the entire corporation by herself, she had managed it.

When she had discovered that she held the ability to read minds, she had kept it to herself for such a long time, she had managed that by herself too. She had been able to act as if everything was normal, though things weren't. She only told them when she felt that she needed to.

His friend was surely admirable. It was part of what he loved about her. Not that he could ever bring himself to telling her this. She could pick herself up and get the job done, no matter the cost. He knew that 'his' Astrid would be fine.

Caitlin was right, it was this new Astrid that needed their help. "So,' he spoke up, ignoring Henry Jackson's gaze, "If she holds the same DNA as Astrid, they should be similar in some ways. Our Astrid would be determined to get the job done. Maybe this girl is the same."

The group waited for him to go on. "She said that she has been dreaming of us. Maybe she has some memories of us. Of Astrid. They must share some sort of link. If we can use that link we should be able to find a way to communicate with Astrid. Hopefully when Astrid is sleeping in that world she will receive the same memories."

"Has Astrid ever had any memories of this girl's life?" Caitlin asked, knowing that he was on to something. Cisco's heart fell. "No, and I know her. She would have told me by now."

Henry Jackson was the only one not disheartened by this news. "That should not be a problem. We can attempt to…"

"NO!" Cisco cut him off. "You have done enough! You are not going anywhere near that girl. But I think I might be able to talk to her." He got up and walked towards the closed office door and knocked.

Astrid didn't answer, though the knock on the door startled her. "Excuse me, Astrid? err… its Cisco. Can you let me in for a minute? I only want to talk." She had remembered that in her dreams, he was not one to give up, if she told him to go away.

She stood up and opened the door and went to sit in the chair at the desk, again. "Of all places, you chose this room, to go into." He said with a smirk.  
"What's wrong with that?" She asked him. He pointed at the golden name plate on the desk. 'Astrid Sutherland'. Her father had it made special for his daughter.

"Oh… OH!" she responded, a mixture of surprise and shock in one. "The exact same name. Wow. Wait! a psychologist?"  
"Yep! And a good one at that! So, you said that you had dreams of us all? What happened in these dreams?"

"Well... we are all superheroes. I have some sort of telepathy ability." Seeing him outside of her dreams made her feel quite star-struck. She was trying to play it cool, now that the initial shock had worn off.

"I take it that I could see things, and that Caitlin Snow could create ice and snow from her hands. The irony hey? And Barry could…"

"Exactly like he did out there…yep! It is just very unbelievable! If I was a psychologist I know exactly what I would be saying right now. That this is impossible! But it is all true, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is."  
"So the meteor, me…well the other me… owning this business, that other Barry…"  
"The other Barry?" Cisco asked, hopeful.  
"Him telling us, well you guys, that some big disaster is happening with another earth."

"Every bit of it." He nodded, "do you know anything about it at all?" he asked her.  
Astrid thought back to the psychiatric patient, she tried to remember his name. "There was a patient that I encountered today at work.

The reason I left work early and went for that sleep test. He had a message in his arm telling me to use my gifts. But now that you mention it, he may have been trying to deliver it to the other Astrid."

"That's a good place to start. Anything else?" he asked her, he wanted more to go on, than just a psychiatric patient, but any lead was good enough.

"No, not that I can think of, I'm sorry. But I am willing to help however I can. I understand that Caitlin might want to do some testing on me. I am willing to give as much information as I can."

Cisco smiled as a response and led her out of the room. This girl had a very different persona to his friend, but the fact that she was willing to help was good enough for him.  
"You have emerged?" Barry Allen asked them both, relieved. He had thought that it would have taken a longer time for her to give them a chance. It was a lot for anybody to take in, at first, but he gave the girl credit for her eagerness.

Cisco stood back with Caitlin and turned to Astrid waiting for her to speak.  
"I am ready to help, if you need me to." She told them.

"She is also willing to be your guinea pig, Caitlin." Cisco told Dr Snow.  
"Are you sure you want that, Astrid?" she asked her, "you… er... well Astrid, was always a better people person than I am."

"I think I can handle it." Astrid told her, then she turned to Dr Henry Jackson. "I know a Dr Jackson, though her name is Emma. She is a friend of mine, probably no relation though, I guess."

Henry gave her a look of amazement, "Emma?" He didn't say anything else, but the look on his face indicated that the name surely meant something to him. The heartbreaking looks of someone who has experienced a loss. Astrid knew that look, she had seen it in so many of her patient's faces before. It was unmistakable.

"It's 2am, I will do a coffee-run," Barry announced, "how do you have yours, Astrid?"  
"Latte, two sugars?" She told him. Caitlin, Barry and Cisco all stared at her. "Somethings seem to be inbuilt." Cisco commented, though he did not wait for a response from her. He turned to his computer to distract himself.

Caitlin led Astrid back to the medical bay to run some tests, while Barry went and did his coffee run. Returning, in a flash, with their coffees. Dr Henry slowly approached Cisco. "I want to apologise, for what has happened tonight, but I will work on a way to get her back to us. Even if I have to bring her back myself."

"Save it!" Cisco responded, "I know we will get her back, and if anyone was to bring her back, I'd bet it would be Barry himself, seeing as he can travel through time and space. But she is my best friend, so you should count on it, her life is on you."

"Understood!" The doctor responded. He understood Cisco's anger, for him. He would respond the same. He had responded the same way, in the past. Dr Henry Jackson vowed to himself that he would get them back, even if it killed him.


	7. Chapter 7 - Earth Prime

Astrid sat at a table at Aaron's bar and order a glass of coke. Without her bracelet, drinking alcohol was a very risky activity. An intoxicated mind-reader made for a poor party animal. She had found this out through experience. In the past she had blurted out a few of her friend's secrets in front of them, making them very cross with her.

She took a sip and looked at the phone in her hands. It was almost 8pm and Emma would be there shortly. She hoped that the girl would locate her first and mistaken her as the other Astrid. She looked up at the doorway, as a girl with dark hair walked in and looked right at her. She smiled but the girl walked right past her. 'Nope!' Astrid thought to herself, 'that wasn't her.' She slumped back down into her seat.

She looked back to the door just in time for a girl with long straight blonde hair, to walk in through the door. She waved at Astrid and so Astrid gave a slight unsure wave. "Hi, Astrid. How are you feeling?" the girl asked her, once she had approached. "I was concerned about you after that patient today. We were able to send him to another ward, so you shouldn't have any more troubles tomorrow."

"I'm sorry!" What do you mean?"  
"Dr Wells? The psychiatric patient. We sent him upstairs to the psychiatric wing. He won't be a problem to you anymore. I found out his whole transfer to our wing was some sort of clerical error in the first place."

Astrid gave the girl a puzzled look.  
"I mean that he was never meant to come to our wing at all. Someone messed up the paperwork, But everything is fine now. He is where he needs to be."

"Oh! He wasn't too much of a problem." Astrid was wondering why the man would have caused such a stir. She probed into the girl's mind and saw the encounter with the other Astrid relaying her experience, to Emma, about the man.

The man had Astrid's name cut deeply into his arm. That was a lead! Psychiatric ward? Perfect place to start! "Do you think they would let me work in the ward to chat with him? I think I might have built a rapport with him. I mean he wrote my name in his arm."

"That isn't up to me. But are you sure? You were really freaked out! You were pale, Astrid!"  
"I am fine. Emma. Really! There is no need to worry."

"Alright, are you drinking anything tonight? It's on me."  
"No, I am fine. Not tonight." Astrid responded, she would have liked to though.  
Emma looked confused, but shrugged it off. "Why did you ask about my father today?" she asked her. She had been waiting to ask this question for a while now.

"I am not sure, why I did." Astrid told her, truthfully. She had no idea what the other Astrid's intention was behind that question.  
"Oh." Emma responded softly. Astrid had clearly said the wrong thing here. She decided to probe into the girl's thoughts, just out of curiosity. This girl's father had died in a car accident, on Emma's birthday. Emma seemed to blame herself.

"Don't blame yourself, Emma." She said comfortingly. "It was never your fault."  
"What?" Emma asked alarmed. "Why would you say that? Never mind! I need a drink." With that Emma stood up and went to the bar to order her drink.

Astrid looked around the bar, there was not a 'meta-human' in sight. It made her feel slightly alone. Normally there would be at least three in a crowded room such as this, not including her friends. But she could feel it. No one in this world had powers such as hers, or any at all.

There had been no meteors or anything. People here were just 'normal' and 'fine' the way they were. She imagined the things that her friends would say. Barry would have some desire to save everyone in this room, though they wouldn't need saving in the first place.

Maybe his mother would have never died, his father would have never gone to jail. But then she would have never have met him and he was now one of her closest friends.

When Emma returned she had two drinks in her hands and handed one to Astrid. "I am fine, really." Astrid protested.  
"Yeah but when you say 'no' to drinks, we all know it means you actually want one, Astrid."  
She was relieved to see Emma in higher spirits. She wanted to keep it that way so she would only stick to one. That was it… No more.

Before she knew it, the time was just after 10pm. She was beginning to feel tipsy and she knew, now, that she had work bright and early tomorrow. She decided to call it a night and caught a taxi home, to Emma's dismay.

Astrid felt bad for Emma, who was too willing to share her life story. There was a lot on the poor girl's mind and she must have felt alone. Astrid knew only too well what it had been like to lose her own father. Fortunately, she had been able to rely on her friends and even her week away with Oliver Queen to help her through it all.

She wondered if this other Astrid had been close with her father, but did not pursue the thought any further. At the other Astrid's house, she took another look around the house, went for a shower and decided to settle in for the night.

As she was getting ready to crawl into bed, she looked around the room. It made her miss her own room. She had pictures of her friends all about the place, but these photos showed an entirely different world. On the desk she saw what looked like a journal.

This girl had obviously been keeping one for a while now. As she flicked through the pages, the content caught her eye. The book did not speak of the life that the Astrid on this world would be living. This journal was a dream journal.

The girl had written about The Flash, Killer Frost and Vibe. This other Astrid had been dreaming about her life. But how was this possible?' wondered Astrid. There had to be a stronger link between the two, than she had first assumed.

This book was almost completed, and it had dates. Astrid was able to identify just when the girl had experienced the dreams, to determine how fast the link was between the two of them.

Astrid sat on the bed with the journal in her hands. The book spoke of Ollie as well. It spoke of her feelings for Cisco. They felt like her own words. But how could this be? A Mind-Link? That had to be it. Whatever triggered the two of them to swap bodies must have given this other girl, Astrid's memories. She wondered if that was all!

Astrid read the latest entry. It was a brief one, though it spoke of their encounter with future Barry. 'So the girl knows what is going on in our world, even if she doesn't know just how true it all is.' She thought to herself. She looked at the other Astrid's comments on the matter. These comments indicated that she wanted to believe, but knew that it was all impossible.

"If only you knew how right your thoughts are, Astrid," She spoke as if she were sitting in front of the author of the journal. "If only you knew." With that she crawled into the bed and went to sleep.

The next day Astrid got to her doppelganger's work place, she was not sure which floor she was supposed to be on or even what she needed to do as a 'nurse'. But by the amount of staff who knew her, it wasn't too difficult to probe their minds and find out.

She found the woman who was Astrid's acting supervisor and requested a transfer to the psychiatric wing. After a call through and a few strange looks, it had been arranged.

The supervising nurse of the psychiatric wing was very accommodating, and even apologised for the patient mix-up the day earlier. She was not able to give an accurate reason why the mix-up had occurred but she assured Astrid that it would not happen again.

'There are never coincidences in life.' Astrid thought to herself. She had heard it once from Dr Martin Stein in her own world. It had always been proven a fact to her.

That patient, Dr Wells, had been clearly transferred for a reason, even if no one yet knew that reason. "If you like I can give you his medicine and you can hand them to him," the nurse said to her, interrupting her thoughts. It was not a request but a polite way of saying 'do your job.'  
"Sure, just point me in his direction." Astrid said cooperatively.

The nurse handed her the man's notes and his medication. "Make sure you check his ID before giving it to him. These guys have a habit of trying to confuse the newbies. He is over there." She pointed to the two male patients sitting at a table deep in conversation.

Astrid walked up to the men, with her eyes flicking through Dr Harrison Wells' medical notes. "Dr Wells. Hi, It's me Astrid. Do you remember me? I have your medication for you. Would you be willing to take it for me?"

Dr Wells looked at her. His big blue eyes filled with delight. "Please, call me Harrison, You're to be my partner in crime. I am sorry I scared you yesterday. They made me leave. But I am so glad that you found me again. Bart, here also knows what is going on. He says he wants to help us. But he can't run anymore."

"Bart?" She asked confused, and then looked at the other man who had been sitting chatting with Harrison.

Her heart pounded out of her chest as she saw her friend, Barry Allen. He was about the same age too. Only it wasn't her friend. He was a stranger. His name was Bart Allen. It was her friend's doppelganger. He even held the same birth name.

He waved politely, as if unsure what to say to her. He clearly did not recognise her, or the other Astrid either. but then why would he?  
Astrid began to feel dizzy. She sat down with the two men, still clutching the medical file and the pills. What were these tablets going to do to this man? She checked his medical notes.

The staff believed that the man had schizophrenia. That he was hallucinating with fantasies about other worlds and he had built a machine that had gotten into the wrong hands and was going to destroy the world and every other world. That a lady with mind powers would save everybody.

They had quoted him word for word. Of course he was in this place. She was a psychologist so she could understand their reasoning. But she also knew the truth. This man was not crazy, despite what sounded like the ramblings of a madman.

And the man that he was sitting with? She needed to know more about him. "Dr Wells," she whispered to him, so low that no one else would hear her, "I need you to do something for me. I am going to give you these tablets. But I want you to only pretend to take them for me, and please do not tell anybody."

The man clearly trusted her, and she needed that trust if he was going to be one of her only allies. Bart studied the two of them closely as she handed over the pills. She hoped that he wouldn't 'out' them to the rest of the staff.

"I hope you are going to take them, Dr Wells." A female voice broke in to their conversation, startling Astrid. "Those guys tend to hide their medication. You should watch them."

"I will be cautious of that, thanks for telling me." Astrid said, before looking up, "Caitlin!" she exclaimed!  
"Please. It is Dr Snow in front of these guys! And have we met? I don't think I have ever met you before!"

Astrid felt slightly disheartened by the words of the girl. She wanted to shake her by the shoulders and tell her "Of course you know me. We have been friends for ten years since my father hired you! But she had to tell herself that this was not her friend. It was Earth Prime's Caitlin.

"No, you just look like someone I know…" Astrid told her, speaking the truth. Though Caitlin turned away to look at someone who had just thrown a stack of cups at the wall and was rocking his head back and forth in a wild manner. He had long dark hair covering his face,

"Francisco! Come on! That is enough. Excuse me a minute." She pardoned herself from Astrid and left. Astrid picked up the notes and looked back at Dr Wells. He cheekily poked his tongue out, silently informing her that he had hidden his medication under his tongue. Astrid ticked his medication folder and looked at Bart.

"Does he talk?" she asked Harrison.  
"I do talk. I just don't know who we can trust. But Dr Wells trusts you, so I will trust you too. Just don't betray me."

"I will honestly try not to hurt you Barry… er Bart. We can be friends. What do you say about that?" Astrid asked him. This was a broken version of her, normally upbeat heroic friend. She needed to remember that it wasn't Barry though. She just wanted to look after him and she vowed that she would do so.

"What happened to you, Bart?" She felt uncomfortable calling him by this name. It felt so unnatural to her.  
"I was in an accident and both my legs were broken, and now I can't run. It makes me sad because in my dreams I can run. I am always running in my dreams."

Astrid noticed that he was sitting in a wheelchair. How did she not realise this before? It hurt her to see this man who was identical to her friend in this position. This would certainly be something that could break him. She looked back at Dr Snow to see that she was still talking to Francisco. He had calmed down finally. As he pulled a lock of his hair behind his ear, she realised who it was!

It was Cisco's double. She needed to see him, to see if he resembled her best friend in anyway apart from his looks. She excused herself from Dr Wells and Bart and stood up, slowly making her way to the other two on the other side of the room.

She had considered his outburst that had led to Dr Snow speaking with him. She wanted to avoid disturbing him from his current mellow mood. "Dr Snow," Astrid spoke to the doctor, "I am sorry to intrude, but would you mind introducing me to this patient?"

"Oh I apologise Astrid, this fine gentleman right here is Francisco Ra…"  
"Ramon…" Before Dr Snow could complete her sentence Astrid finished the sentence for her.  
Astrid was looking at the man who had now pulled his hair over his face and was now eyeing her suspiciously.

"Hi, Francisco. My name is Astrid. How are you doing?" She held out her hand for him to shake it but he refused to give her the opportunity. He seemed very suspicious of her. She had to remind herself that this was not the Cisco that she had known half her life.

This man was another version of her Cisco entirely. Astrid thought to herself that she had taken the first step of her mission. She would need to see what Dr. Harrison Wells could tell her. It also occurred to her that whoever had made the clerical error of sending him to the other ward, had done so for a reason, maybe to reach out to her. She would find out who it was. Her mind was set that it was Dr Caitlin Snow. So she vowed that this would be her next step.


	8. Chapter 8 - Earth 27

"We have an update on Red. He has gone underground but Joe was able to bring in one of his men for questioning, so we should catch him soon," Barry announced on entering the room.  
"Who's Red?" Astrid asked Caitlin.  
"He is the latest crime lord that we have on our hands." she replied.

"The thing is the guy has given police the reason that they call him Red!" Barry went on.  
"Sounds grim!" Cisco said, swinging his chair around to face Barry and give him his undivided attention.

"I'll say," another voice broke in, it was detective Joe West following Barry in to the room.  
"It seems his lackey Adrian Winston told CCPD that most of the men are so afraid of him they are bending over backwards to earn his favor. He told detective Sampson that Red could burn their skin just by touching them."

"That just one touch from Red made their entire skin bubble up and burn." Barry clarified.

"Hot touch!" Cisco said trying to add a little humor to the grim analysis.  
"So Red is a meta-human? But I thought they opposed meta-humans?" Caitlin questioned, trying to make sense of the subject.

"I think he is just afraid to meet his match, Red meet the Red Streak, also known as The Flash! That would be a sight," Cisco said lightly, "Catch me if you can!" he tried to mimic Barry, making Astrid laugh.

"But we have a problem." Joe said sternly. "The camera's that were hooked up to the warehouse were not only tapped into by you, Cisco. It seems that Red saw what had happened when you used your powers, Astrid…"

"Uh Joe, that isn't Astrid! Well the one you know!" Cisco chimed in.  
"What do you mean?" he asked, a look of confusion written on his face.

"It seems we had a little problem with Dr Henry's procedure." Barry told him.

Cisco stood up and walked behind Astrid placing his hands on both her shoulders, "Let me introduce to you, in our one and only Astrid's body… The Astrid Sutherland from Earth Prime."  
He spoke like a gameshow host making her blush. Joe's shock was written all over his face as he walked up to her. "So where is Astrid? Our Astrid."

"Our Astrid is currently on Earth Prime." Barry told him. "It's apparently a world where there are no meta-humans. And she is trying to find out any leads to the catastrophe that is coming our way."

"Is she going to be ok? How will you be able to contact her?" Joe asked.  
"We have been trying all day to work out theories," Caitlin told him, "but so far have hit a block. However, this Astrid, while she was on her earth was able to receive our Astrid's memories through dreams, so we may be able to see what she is going on through her end but we don't yet have any clue if we can send her messages. In return."

"I assume there would be a delay when her experiences become your dreams?" Joe asked Astrid.  
"We worked it out, it is roughly a two-day delay." Astrid told him. This was the first time that she had actually spoken to Joe.

It was at that moment that Cisco saw it. He was in a large room filled with psychiatric patients. But when he had a good look, he saw that two of the patients were he and Barry. He saw the patient 'Barry' sitting at a table speaking to another male patient. While Cisco's double was sitting at a table on the other end of the room with three cups and a paper ball.

He was fumbling about trying to make the paper ball disappear but it wouldn't. He grew frustrated with the cups so he threw them at the wall, drawing the attention of a female doctor. The doctor came over to him. It was Caitlin. Well, her double, anyway. They were then joined by another girl who he knew straight away. Astrid!

Then as fast as had seen it, it was over. He looked down at the Astrid in the chair next to him. "Have you ever met us in your world?"

"No! never," she told him honestly.  
He licked his lips as a large smile formed over his face, "Astrid just met us! Not us-us but the other us!"

Caitlin and Barry were all ears as he told them just what he had seen. "If I know Astrid, she is going to rope them into helping her and to do that, she is going to have to bust them out! She is going to need all the help that she can get to pull this off! If I have the power to see what she is doing in a completely different universe, I might be able to channel her mind reading abilities to communicate with her."

"Cisco, do you remember what happened the last time you tried to do that? She was only across town and you nearly ended up with a brain aneurism." Caitlin told him.

"You know as well as I do that her powers have improved, and so have mine since then. I can do it. I know that I can!"  
"Ok, but we will have to test it out first." She told him, "If I see any failing vitals in you, we end it entirely. Is that clear?" said Caitlin.

"Can we go back to the subject from earlier?" Joe interrupted them, "I understand this whole body swap through time and space matter is a big deal right now, but Red saw Astrid use her powers. He is aware of who she is and what she is capable of doing. It just means that this Astrid is in danger. We can't let her out of our sight."

"I might have a couple ideas." Barry spoke up for the first time in a while. "We know by future Barry's arrival that I have the ability to travel to alternate universes. If I can work on my speed I might be able to go to that world and help her.

Only That would mean I would have to leave Central City to the two of you. But before I can go there I will help you find Red, Joe. We cannot risk this Astrid's life."

Suddenly Joe's phone beeped, so he checked the message. "Adrian Winston just gave us a location to check out. We might have him."  
"I'll take you." Barry replied, and in the blink of an eye, the two of them were gone.

"It is going to take a while for me to get used to that," Astrid told Caitlin and Cisco, referring to Barry's speed.  
"It does take a bit to get used to." Cisco agreed. "Astrid was the last of us to reveal her powers. It took us a while to get used to not feeling like she was reading our minds all the time. I remember leaving the room every time she walked in as I felt she was going into my mind without me realizing."

"I remember that," Astrid told him, referring to her dreams. "She even told Oliver Queen before she told you guys as she was scared you would never trust her again."

Cisco's face fell. Ollie knew before he did? She really felt that her friends would be so hurt by her power that she left town? Sure she came back, but it dawned on him just how much his actions could hurt her.

"Just wondering could you ever read our thoughts?" Caitlin asked Astrid, the thought that had been on Cisco's mind, "In your dreams I mean?"

"No, I never could. She wouldn't even think them back to me. I just saw that she could. It's hard to explain it." Astrid gave a big yawn and realized that she hadn't slept since she had got to this world.

"You would have to be tired," Caitlin said. "You can crash at mine tonight. Red would surely know where you live and would be after you there. I mean where A…"  
"I knew what you meant." Astrid responded.

That night Caitlin and Astrid ordered a few pizzas and watched movies at Caitlin's house.  
"Are you thirsty?" Caitlin asked, "I can go into the kitchen to fix you up a drink, it has been a while since the other Astrid and I have had a movie night, we are always working."

"Yeah, I am a little bit thirsty. I'll wait here for you. This chair is super comfortable. It certainly beats the chairs at the lab." Astrid had been to Caitlin's house in her dreams, only ever a couple times. Just like the everything else, it was still so amazing to see it in person.

Caitlin left the room and went down the hall to the kitchen. As she poured the drinks she could feel a slight draft. Her skin was naturally cool, thanks to her abilities, but this was the draft as if it had come from an open window. She looked around, only to see not an open window, but the back door had been left open.

She heard a CRASH from the other room, where she had left Astrid. She charged back down the hallway, accidently dropping a glass and leaving it smashed on the floor on her way out.  
She came to the room to find the front door open and Astrid was indeed, gone. She had to call The Flash.


	9. Chapter 9 - Earth Prime

Astrid purposely took her lunch break at the same time as Dr Snow, to sit with her at the hospital tables outside of the hospital to enjoy some sunlight. Her intention was to find out the reason behind the clerical error with Dr Wells.

"So it's not so bad working in the psychiatric wing, is it Astrid?" the doctor asked her, as she took a bite from her salad sandwich,  
"I quite enjoy it! Honestly, those guys remind me of some friends of mine," Astrid told her. "I suppose I was a little startled when that patient appeared in my ward with my name cut into his arm."

"That's understandable, it would alarm anyone. Are you sure that you have never met him before, until then? That situation had the rest of the staff a little stumped."

"Never ever." Astrid told her truthfully, "I understand that the man has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and a combination of other mental illnesses. Are you certain that there is no truth to anything that he has been saying?"

Astrid probed Dr Snow's mind for the answer as soon as she let the question slip from her lips. The doctor looked at her as if she herself were a psychiatric patient, and Astrid understood why, instantly.

"Don't tell me you're buying into his story about alternate universe's and the end of the world coming due to some mistake that he made!" It was certainly not Caitlin Snow's fault that he had been sent to her wing.

"No! Of course not!" Astrid lied. "He just seems to hold so much guilt. Like maybe he has done something that he isn't proud of. He seems to want forgiveness and a chance to repent for whatever mistake he has made. I suppose I just feel obliged to help the man. However, I can."

Dr Snow sighed a sense of relief and then went on "There isn't really all that much that you can do, aside from acting as his nurse, I'm afraid."

For a moment Astrid had forgotten that the other Astrid was a nurse. Every now and then she could feel herself slip back into her role as a psychologist and would have to remind herself of the disguise that she had taken on.

She took a bite of her own sandwich and said nothing. From over Dr Snow's shoulder she saw Emma approaching them. She was preparing for an afternoon shift and still seemed slightly hungover from the night before.

"Excuse me a moment," Astrid said to Caitlin as she raced towards Emma. "What are you doing? You are hungover, I cannot let you start work in that condition!"

Emma stared at her with a glazed expression on her face. "It's not like I am drunk."  
"This is not funny, Emma!"  
"No! I know it's not funny." Emma told her softly. "It's just! I need to speak with you. It's to do with that Wells patient. It's to do with a lot of things, really. It has to do with my father's death. But I just don't know where to start!"

"Oh Emma!" Astrid said, trying to comfort her friend, and helping her to sit down at the empty table beside them, "you are the reason he got sent to me, aren't you?"

Emma nodded at her blankly.  
"Please, Em. Just start from the beginning. Tell me everything!" Astrid lent closer to Emma, ready to listen.

"My father was a colleague of Dr Well's. Together they built some sort of secret invention. Before my father died? Disappeared? Whatever! I remember him saying a few peculiar things about what they were building though I never spoke of it to anyone.

But the other day I saw Dr Wells, I remembered him from my father's pictures. He told me a few things that sort of just made sense. About the invention, about my father, that he didn't die, like we had thought, about the man who betrayed them and about you."

Astrid could not believe what she was hearing. "Emma, What are you talking about? What did they build? What did Wells tell you?" she asked her.

"My father told me that he was working on a machine. Where a person would climb into some sort of pod and be transported into an entirely different universe. Parallel dimension or something.

I heard him on the phone a few days before my birthday. He was saying it was unstable and unsafe to use. That there was no way to return if one went through it. I also heard him mention something about being able to destroy the same worlds as it could lead to.

He was rambling, I thought he was going crazy at the time. This was just over 5 years ago when I was still studying my medical degree. I never told anyone. But then when he died. I thought he had just, you know died in a car accident. I was supposed to take the car out that night, but he needed to use it. His was in getting fixed. They apparently covered up his disappearance, labelling it a death, and destroyed my car in the process."

Astrid was speechless, but she continued to listen to her friend who was now in tears as she spoke. "It wasn't until a few days ago when I spoke to Wells. He told me that my father had wanted to send himself as a test subject through the machine. Just the process of him being transported damaged the machine so he couldn't get back.

The man who has the machine now had used Wells to fix it up and has been using it for his own gain and he took everything from Dr Wells and my father. All that they had built. He is the reason Dr Wells was admitted into the psychiatric hospital in the first place."

"Emma? If this is all true, how did Dr Wells know of me?"  
"That's the most incredible part of this story. He told me that he built some sort of gadget that he has been using to tap into other worlds. He said he saw my father and that he heard the name Astrid Sutherland, only you were someone else. A mind reader, or something.

I know that I sound crazy or like I am still drunk! But I assure you that I am not! Wells mentioned your name and I had to have you accidentally meet him. I needed to know for sure. The way you reacted yesterday had me thinking that none of it was true. But last night, you said a few things. As if you were reading my mind and it clicked! Maybe the man was right!"

Astrid's mind was spinning way too fast. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. All the answers to her mission were right here. She probed into the girl's mind and knew that she was telling the truth

"If Wells is telling the truth, where is this gadget now? And the machine? Where did he used to work?"

"My father and Wells both used to work at the Sleep Research Centre. These projects were done upstairs in the higher levels, away from patients and prying eyes. All their equipment and their work is kept there. It was a doctor named Dr Fullton who betrayed them."

"Dr Fullton?" Astrid knew by the impression that he had given her, the day before, that she could not trust him. "I know the man that you are talking about." She told Emma.

"So either you have just bought into Dr Wells' story too Dr Jackson, or you are telling the truth and we have a sane man being admitted against his will." Dr Caitlin snow had been listening in all this time and had just broken into their conversation.

Emma looked scared. Astrid calmly read Caitlin's mind, to find that she was trying to make sense of all of this too.

"So if you are being truthful Emma, from what I have heard Astrid would be able to read minds. I really don't feel that that is possible." Caitlin told the girl.

Astrid knew that she needed to speak up. She knew that both these girls could be trusted, but she felt that doing so could jeopardise her mission. So she said nothing.

"I know what you must be thinking Dr Snow, but I believe him. There are too many coincidences going on and they all add up. Science has never been able to debunk the alternate universe theory." Emma argued.

"Nor has it ever been proven." Caitlin argued back, "That's what I would need to believe any of this."

"Even if you had proof, what then?" Emma asked.  
"Well first of all, I would release a man who has been wrongly labelled as unstable!" Dr Snow snapped back.

"You know Wells better than any of us," Astrid began, "if you had the proof, would you believe that he is of sound mind?"

Caitlin thought for a moment, "Yes I would. Aside from his wild stories, he seems to be the only sane patient in that ward."

"So think of something!" Astrid told her.  
"What do you mean?" Caitlin asked her.  
"Think of anything at all. I will read your mind for you."

Dr Snow was puzzled, but figured that she would give it a try.  
"You're planning on making pasta for dinner." Astrid said after a brief moment of silence.  
Caitlin's eyes grew wide, "I must have already told you that earlier. I will try again."

Once again there was silence.  
"You're now thinking of the last thing your grandmother told you before she passed away. Don't worry, I will not speak it out loud."

Emma stared astonished at Dr Snow, whose eyes were still fixed on Astrid's.  
"So, when do release Dr Wells?" Astrid asked her with a smile.

"This afternoon." Dr Snow responded quietly, not taking her eyes off of Astrid.


	10. Chapter 10 - Earth 27

After searching Caitlin's house, Barry had only uncovered scorched marks on both the back and front door to the house, which had burned right through the locks. But no actual fingerprints throughout the house.

"Do you see anything Barry?" Joe asked him as they searched for clues on Astrid's whereabouts. "Whoever took her was very careful. No fingerprints anywhere." Barry told him.

"Whoever it was, was quick about it, too. I had only just left the room," Caitlin added, clearly concerned. "Are you thinking another speedster may have helped?" Cisco asked her.

"I don't know. I guess that it's possible?" Caitlin shrugged, "are you able to get anything, Cisco? she was sitting in the chair right there."

"I can try," he walked towards the chair, placed his hand at the head of it and waited for any vision to come. Though none did.

"Did you find anything at the location that Adrian provided?" Caitlin asked Joe.  
"No, nothing out of the ordinary. Barry even scouted the area looking for technology to tap into. They had been there but left no traces of where they had moved to." Joe replied.

"Maybe I could go back there with you, Barry, to see if I could pick anything up." Cisco suggested to Barry. "It couldn't hurt," Barry responded, "let's go." In a moment they were gone.

"Do you think Red will be back?" Caitlin asked Joe, "I should have kept a better eye on her!"

"Don't beat yourself up about it." Joe told her reassuringly, "There was a time where Iris, Barry and I went to the fair, a few months after he came to live with us. I had told myself that I would never let him out of my sight. So it turned out he went to go on the Ferris wheel and Iris had told me to check out the magician. So it turned out I took my eyes off him for a moment and in that moment he ran off. I found him, it took about an hour. But when I did he said he had remembered the last time he was on a Ferris wheel was with parents.

But that fear that I had had. That someone had taken him. I understand where you are coming from. Everything will be ok. We will find her, I promise you."

Meanwhile, at an old abandoned plastics factory downtown, Barry and Cisco went over the site looking for traces of anyone from the group, that had taken Astrid.

"Wouldn't we have known by now if there was another speedster in town?" Barry asked his friend. Cisco had wondered the same thing until he put his hand on an old machine and had an instant vibe. He saw himself in the same factory only it was a gathering site for a group of men. He saw a man, sharply dressed in a suit, enter the room.

All the men looked at him respectfully. Then he spoke "I have succeeded in playing God. We now have our own speedster to rival The Flash and after witnessing the telekinetic abilities of the Robert Sutherland's daughter, we will now be able to embark on a new project of creating people with these same abilities. I myself will be accompanying our new recruit Hypersonic to obtain…" His conversation was broken off by a man in a police uniform joining the group and whispering in his ear. The leader of the group looked at the policeman angrily and spoke back to the rest of the group, "It seems Adrian Winston has allowed himself to be captured. Thank you detective Scotts for your update. You have been a great help." And with that he laid his hand on the policeman. Cisco could barely watch as the man's skin began to turn red from the site and began to blister all over. Before he knew it, the man was screaming in pain as his body went from pink, to red and then decomposing all in thirty seconds.

"Cisco? Did you get a vibe?" Barry asked him when he finally broke free from his vision. "Hypersonic is such a cool name for a speedster." Cisco told him, "looks like he will be your new rival. Red is making more meta-humans. He took Astrid as he thinks she has telekinetic abilities. But what he doesn't realise is that it is not actually her. And what Red can do? Is scary. He also has or had insiders working for the CCPD. This is not good!" He was talking very quickly.

"We need to tell Joe immediately!" Barry told him, he held on to Cisco's arm and took him back to Caitlin's house. "Red is making meta-humans! He killed a detective named Scotts!" Cisco told Joe the instant they were back.

"Detective Scotts? Why?" Joe asked, "I only just spoke with him today."  
"He was an insider for Red, and what he can do! It is just creepy. He can decompose bodies just by touching them." Cisco was referring to what he had seen in his vision. "We need to get him behind bars as soon as possible."

"I agree!" Joe told him, "But what concerns me is that we don't know how many other insiders he has working for the CCPD. We're going to have to do some silent investigations through the CCPD, Barry."

"I agree," Cisco told him, "I am pretty sure that I can supply you with some bugging tech that you can set-up at the station. I can also get into the CCPD database. If anyone has been corresponding with anyone through the network on a 'not-so-lawful' basis I can find them."

"I don't really agree with your methods, Cisco…" Joe told him.

"But if it is going to get our man off the street." Barry broke in, "We might have to do it. Red has made a new speedster, Hypersonic, he called him. We have a lot to deal with here and it is just going to get worse if we don't stop him now."

"Fine, Barry," Joe surrendered, "We do it with Cisco's tech. but if we get caught…" he sighed, "…I don't know… fine! But it's on the pair of you!" Cisco grinned. "Let's go to the Labs now. I have been hanging out to do this for ages!" He told them excitedly.

At the Sutherland Labs, Cisco gathered an assortment of equipment, ranging from microscopic cameras to voice recording tools that could be easily disguised.

He ran through all of them and how to use them at a pace that Joe could not understand. Barry understood what he needed to know. "Now while you two set to work at the CCPD headquarters, I will begin working on the databases from this computer here.

Barry and Joe left Caitlin and Cisco to work, while they went to set up the equipment at the police station. "I can't believe that they are making meta-humans, so much for hating them." Caitlin told Cisco.

"They must have had a change of heart. But another speedster? Trying to build some with mind-control powers? Ones that have the Midas touch of death? This is only going to get worse." Cisco replied, "I just wish that Astrid was here. She would somehow have some insight that would be of assistance."

Caitlin nodded in agreement. "We will get her back and we will get the nonmeta-human Astrid back too, Cisco. I just know we will." She was trying to convince herself, as much as she was trying to convince him. Suddenly, she received a text on her phone. "It's from doctor Henry Jackson." She told Cisco.

"What does he want?" Cisco asked, irritability throughout his tone.  
"He wants to help, I messaged him earlier, I told him about our current predicament. His message then just told me he 'might have a plan'."

"Look where his last plan got us. Freaky Friday through an alternate universe!"  
"Well at least it's a start. We can't let this whole end of the worlds thing happen. Astrid would be well on her way with a plan by now. We both know that. Anyway Dr Henry is on his way over, so play nice! We need to help this other girl. I'd hate to see what would happen when Red finds out that she doesn't have powers."

Cisco felt a shiver run down his spine, but said nothing as he continued to hack into to the CCPD network. "OK! Barry and Joe have done it! I've made it into the network and I have surveillance throughout the station. Now we just need to watch and wait! For something or someone out of the ordinary."

"I really don't feel comfortable doing this, Barry." Joe said to him once they reached the detective's office and closed the door. The Flash had turned back into regular Barry Allen in case they had got caught being there. "Captain Singh would have both our jobs and send us to federal prison if we get caught."

"But we can't get caught, Joe. This other Astrid's life is on our hands. We need to do whatever we can." Barry looked at his watch, it had been a gift from Joe a few years back. It was late and there were very little staff on at this time of night.

"We will help her, Bar. Before he does anything to her. I know you feel helpless right now, but you will get to her on time. You're the fastest person I know."

"That's not the only thing that I am concerned about, Joe." He looked at the photo of Iris sitting on the detective's desk. "It's Iris, right?" Joe asked his foster son.

"How'd you…" Barry started.  
"How didn't I see it Barry? You have been in love with her all your life and you have always been too afraid to say anything to her. But you will get your chance… and honestly, this new boyfriend of hers? He isn't right for her. She will learn that in her own time."

Barry smiled at Joe. What scared Barry the most was knowing that if they failed… if Astrid failed in this other world. They would die, with him never telling Iris how he really felt about her. This was all too big for all of them!

Only Cisco knew that he had been training in secret to try and become faster than he had ever been. He figured if he was able to time travel in the future, thanks to his speed, that he had to learn it sometime and he was determined to learn it now.

He was scared for his friend, being alone in another world and trying to take on whatever was coming her way. He knew that she was adamant that she would get it done, no matter the cost. But he also knew that if she were to succeed, she would be willing to sacrifice her own life to do so.

She could be ruthless if she needed to be. She would always be willing to sacrifice one for the good of the many, which was something he could never even dream of doing. She would never intentionally put herself or anyone else she loved in danger, but she would be willing to do so if there were so much at stake.

"Barry." Cisco's voice rang out into his earpiece, startling him. "There is someone in Captain Singh's office, and it isn't captain Singh. Ah crap! It's a shapeshifter and he, wait… no now 'she' is coming your way as Iris!"

"Joe, get ready." Barry told Joe, "It's not… Iris," His conversation was interrupted by someone who looked exactly like Iris.

"Dad, Barry. What are the two of you still doing here?" she asked them "It's late and you guys weren't home. I tried calling your phones."

"I didn't have any missed…" It was too late, for 'Iris' had picked up a plaque from Joe's desk and swung it over his head. Barry pretended to run out of the office and immediately turned into The Flash, returning to restrain the shapeshifter, who immediately turned into Joe.

The Flash noticed a set of Cisco's tech handcuffs on Joe's desk, so using his speed he took them and put them onto the shapeshifter. The shapeshifter changed into someone that he could not recognize. Barry was able to keep him restrained and take him back to Sutherland Labs, leaving Joe passed out on the floor. "Sorry Joe." He said as he left.

"We need somewhere to keep this guy, for questioning. This is our shapeshifter." Barry announced to his friends once he returned to Sutherland Labs.

Dr Henry Jackson looked at Barry's prisoner. "I have just the place to keep Mr Keys. He is actually one of our employees. If he does work for Red, that just makes what we are about to do much better for us."

He led the group down to the basement floor, in which he had turned into what seemed to be his own private work area. "Does Astrid Sutherland know what you have turned this floor into?" Cisco asked Henry.

"I doubt that she does, but once she sees the work here, I do not think that she would want to shut it down. This floor is filled with five years of confidential research into the meteor and my abilities. Plus that hospital bed there can strap our prisoner down so I can probe into his dreams. I can receive his memories. Whatever Red told him. I can bring it to the surface. I need your help Cisco, just as we did with Astrid. This will not be as risky as the procedure that we carried out on Astrid."

They strapped down the shapeshifter, who tried to fight them. Henry Jackson placed his palms on the shapeshifter's forehead, while Cisco put his hand on the man's shoulders. Hoping to find something that might lead them to their kidnapped friend


	11. Chapter 11 - Earth Prime

That afternoon Astrid met Emma at a café, following her shift. Her friend had been drinking enough coffee and had finally gotten over her hangover. Astrid ordered a latte and was relieved to find that they did have them on this earth.  
"Have you heard anything from Dr Snow regarding Harrison Wells being released from the hospital?" Emma asked Astrid.

"The last I saw her she had holed herself up in her office with paperwork about a mile high. I think she is trying to make sense of everything." Astrid told her glancing at the magazine that she had bought from the counter.

"…About everything that has been happening." Emma commented, taking a sip of her coffee, "You really read her mind, didn't you Astrid?"  
Astrid turned the pages of the magazine. She scanned an article where celebrities were receiving awards for acting. "That Grant Gustin looks familiar," she said to Emma, "Was he in anything that I might have seen, lately?"

"Astrid, please don't change the subject. You read Dr Snow's mind today, didn't you?"  
"Look Emma, this is really hard to explain…"  
"How long have you been able to read minds, or is this just a new thing?" Emma continued to probe her. Astrid looked up and noticed Dr Snow entering the café with another person. It was Dr Harrison Wells.

Caitlin Snow saw them and made her way over to their table, pulling out seats for both her and Wells. Before anyone could say anything, Caitlin broke the silence. "The lot of you owe me BIG time!"  
Astrid waved to Dr Wells.

"You did it Astrid! Thank you!" he told her, "but our plan isn't over yet!"  
"You should be thanking Dr Snow. She pulled all the strings to get you released." Astrid told him.  
He looked at Dr Snow who spoke again, "Now my part is done… Please tell me! What the HELL is going on here, Astrid!" Emma was still waiting for Astrid to tell her the same thing.

Astrid sighed. She really didn't know where to start. Dr Wells could tell that she was stumped so he began speaking for her. "Astrid is from another world. She has super powers like the heroes we read about in comics. She came here to help me stop Dr Fullton before he destroys the world."

Dr Snow sighed, "Do you want a coffee, Dr Wells? I'm going to have to get them to stick a shot of alcohol in mine to believe all this." "You're from another world?" Emma wanted Astrid to clarify. "But I have known you for years! How is this possible?"

"It's possible because… Well back home a meteor hit our earth, five years ago. It reacted with our earth and infected many of our people with some sort of chemical that it let off in to our air. It killed off an entire state and left a lot of us with certain... gifts.

I met someone who called us all "meta-humans". My father owned a corporation called Sutherland Labs. Though he died when the meteor struck and left the corporation to me. A doctor back home, I don't know if he is of any relation to you, his name is Dr Henry Jackson, he has some sort of gift to interact with people's dreams. He, my friends and I did some sort of procedure and I think it made me and the other Astrid swap bodies. Though I still have my powers. It just doesn't make sense. She should have them, I guess."

Dr Wells who had been listening intently this whole time spoke up again, "It does make sense. Your powers are in your mind! They are not physical, they are mental. It is your mind that is in this body, so that is why you still have your mental abilities."

"So that means the other Astrid, my friend, is in your "meta-human" world without your powers. Is she safe there?" Emma asked.

"I believe she is. She would be in the hands of my friends, I trust them more than anyone to keep her safe." Astrid told her, "She also seems to have some sort of link with me. I found her journal of her dreams that she has been keeping. She has been dreaming of my life. Well a good part of it."

"How long ago did this swap happen?" Emma asked her.  
"Yesterday, I woke up as her in Dr Fullton's clinic."  
"You met Dr Fullton You went to his clinic? Did he assess you?" Dr Wells asked her, with a look of concern.

"Yes, he did assess me. He blamed me for destroying one of his machines," Astrid told him. "In fact, I have a copy of his readings that he took."

"Can I see them?" Dr Wells asked her.  
Astrid pulled the documents out of the handbag and handed them to him. She had folded the papers up the day before and had placed them in there. She had only remembered this now.

Dr Wells read over them. "Oh no, Miss Sutherland! This isn't good! He will want to see you again. He will want to do more tests on you!"  
"I assumed that too Dr Wells. But I also believe that that is a good thing. It means I will have a reason to visit the clinic again."

Dr Snow returned with a coffee for her and one for Dr Wells. "You lot should be mindful of your volume, so that other people in this café don't hear you… and on your last thought Astrid, I would be willing to help you if you need to see Dr Fullton again. We might be able to sneak Emma in and she could have a look around. We might also need a blueprint of the facility. I might have someone in mind who used to work there that can help."

"Sounds like a plan in mo…" Astrid started but she was interrupted by the phone in her handbag going off. "Anne Davids? Who is that?" she asked, but then answered the phone, anyway.

"Hi Astrid? It's Anne. Just checking to see how things went yesterday after you left the Sleep Research Centre. You seemed a little off. Are you okay?" Astrid realized who it was. The other Astrid's psychologist.  
"Oh Hi, Anne. I am ok, really."

"You're sure? How bout we set up an appointment this afternoon to have a little chat?"  
"I'm fine, Anne really. I am pretty busy today, I have to catch up on some work."  
"Ok, how does tomorrow sound?" Anne persisted.

"I'll give you a call ok?" Astrid told her and hung up. She wasn't ready to let anyone else in on what was really going on. Things could get difficult if she did so.

Emma who hadn't said much in a while, had been caught on something that Astrid had said earlier, "You said that there was a Henry Jackson on your earth?" she asked Astrid,

"There is. But One thing you need to know about the whole alternate world thing, is that there are people over there with the exact DNA as you and I. Even if that Dr Jackson has the same DNA as your father, it might not be the one you know. You see, my friends back there. I met their… er doubles? And they are nothing like my friends that I grew up with."

"But my father, according to Dr Wells went to an entirely different universe. Surely there would be a possibility?" Astrid could see the look of desperation on the girl's face. She looked at Dr Wells and probed his mind to see if he knew.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the answer so she would need to supply Emma with one. "I suppose it could be possible? But I couldn't know for sure." She hoped that was enough of an answer for the girl.

Dr Snow drank her coffee quickly, she seemed to be going through things in her mind. Astrid watched her ready to begin reading. "You're doing that thing again, Astrid. Please stop it!" "I'm sorry." Astrid apologized, "how did you know?"

"The way you were staring at me! I don't know how your friends could get used to that." Dr Snow told thought of the bracelet back home and looked at her wrist. She would give anything to be back home wearing it right now. "Anyway," Dr Snow went on, "If I am going to get those blueprints, I need you to make an appointment for DR Fullton asap! I will send him through a referral from my office."

"There's just one thing! What if I destroy his machines again?" Astrid asked. "Yes!" Wells cut in, "we cannot let her go through with the assessments. He might be on to us, Dr Snow!"

"You only need to attend the appointment. Leave the rest to me." Dr Snow said and with that she raced off. "She was my ride home," Wells said softly. "That's ok, you can come with me," Astrid told him. "I need to know the full story of what you know about my world and how you know it exactly."


	12. Chapter 12 - Earth 27

Cisco Ramon began to see images of the same man he had seen before, from the abandoned factory. Only he had a real name, Dr Redmond Fullton, he was dressed in a white coat and this time he was creating meta-humans in a laboratory. Inside the lab there were shelves filled with beakers containing colored chemicals.

There were men strapped to bed as patients, though these men were here by their own free will. There was also a machine which looked a lot like another version of their turbo pulse accelerator.

A female doctor approached the Dr Fullton, and handed him a familiar looking object. Cisco tried to remember just where he could remember seeing it. It was a metal fist-sized cube.

Dr Fullton tapped his fingers in a specific sequence on the side and just like a 'jack in the box' the lid popped up. The lid revealed that it was indeed a mini TV screen but Cisco could not see what was displaying on it.

He looked around the room, searching for something to indicate the location of the laboratory. He saw the shapeshifter laying in the bed awake watching his surroundings.

Hypersonic was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly two men walked into the room, both of which were wearing earplugs. They were holding the arms of a girl, dragging her to Dr Fullton. The doctor put the TV box down and applied some blue rubber gloves and put in some ear plugs.

He picked up a syringe with a needle at the end and smiled at the girl. Cisco felt relief to know that this wasn't Astrid. She had bright red hair and a gag around her mouth. The gag didn't stop her from muffling out a scream though. The scream set a ringing throughout Cisco's ears as Dr Fullton struck the girl with the needle, drawing her blood into the canister.

Cisco managed to gain his composure and watched as the patients went into a frenzy, though they were all still strapped down to the beds and couldn't go very far.

Dr Fullton waved at the men, to drag the girl away, so they did. The female doctor from earlier, looked at the girl. Pity was written all over her face. She didn't want to be here.

Cisco looked at her badge. 'Dr Tina McGee.' That was it! Her name! He could track them down using her name!  
Before Cisco's eyes the room and the noise all faded to black. He was back with Dr Jackson, Barry, Caitlin and the shapeshifter in the basement of Sutherland Labs.

"Dr Tina McGee. She is our answer!" he told them. He ran over to the closest computer and turned it on. The computer wasn't even on the same network as the rest of the computers from Sutherland Labs.

He managed to get into the practitioner database and pulled up the profile of a "Dr Tina McGee". "It says here she was disqualified for malpractice. She was married but kept her last name after her husband died. His death was classed as suspicious, though never solved. Her father is… Get this…a Dr Redmond Fullton... Red!"

"Does it say what happened to her father? Where he worked?" Barry asked.  
"Already on it…" Cisco told him searching for every possible lead.  
"You will not find him!" Mr Keyes blurted out, still strapped down on the bed. "All in time the man will be able to travel further than anyone else has ever dreamed possible!" Mr Keyes spat at Dr Henry Jackson with loathing.

"It says he worked for Mercury Labs, was also disqualified for malpractice. Though It looks like the man is rich! He owns multiple properties and research centers! I have sent the list to your phone, Barry! Hopefully you should be able to find him at one of them, at the least!"

Cisco looked up but Barry had already left. "I can never get over just how fast that guy is!" he told Caitlin.

Barry ran to multiple properties, but so far no sign of Red… Or Dr Fullton. He looked at the next place on his list. An old closed down facility that hadn't been in use for at least twenty something years. It was worth a shot.

He scoured the research rooms until finally he came to a glass door with a light coming from the other side. He opened the door and saw a large room, beakers filled with chemicals on the shelves and hospital beds with straps to them.

Unfortunately, he didn't find Red in this room, though a hot cup of coffee sitting on a desk indicated that there had been someone working very recently.

"I know you're there. There is no point in hiding." The Flash spoke to the quiet room.  
He heard someone 'gulp' in fear and he quickly looked under the desk to find a lady with short brown hair to her shoulders, and roughly the same age as he.

She was clutching a pen as a weapon ready to strike at Barry at any moment. Quickly, he removed the pen from her so she was no longer a threat.

"I won't hurt you." He told her. "Just tell me your name."  
"I know who you are, but it's not you that I am afraid of. You're The Flash! You're the good guy! What my father has created… They are the bad guys."

"Is your name Tina?" Barry asked her.  
"Yes, I am willing to tell you everything provided you can keep me safe. Please!" she pleaded at Barry.

"Yes! I promise I will do what I can to help keep you safe. I am looking for a girl named Astrid. Did your father bring her here?" he asked her.  
"Yes, he did, but he moved her, like he did the rest of them. Please can you take me away from here?"

The Flash nodded and took her hand, bringing her to the Sutherland Labs car park. Where Joe had now arrived and had gathered the shapeshifter and loaded him into his patrol car. Tina was frightened of Mr Keyes the minute that she saw him.

"I take it he gave you all the information that you needed?" Joe asked Barry, on seeing him. "That and more." Barry responded, "We have Red's daughter who is willing to give us information in exchange for her safety, though."

"I will alert the witness protection program. We can't trust anyone at the station until we know who the insiders are." Joe replied.

"I can name them all! Please just don't take me to the station!" the girl pleaded, with her eyes fixed on Mr Keyes.  
"Do we trust her?" Joe asked Barry, referring to the girl.  
"We're going to have to, she was really frightened. I just wish we had Astrid here to help us decipher what she is thinking."

Joe made a phone call to witness protection and in a few minutes he was off the phone again. "They can pick her up later after we are done questioning her."

"Sounds good. What are you going to do with Mr Keyes?"  
"I have a buddy at the prison who I can trust to keep an eye on him, until this matter is dealt with. I will be back after I drop him off and we can find out what we need to from the girl." Joe said.

Barry nodded and took Tina upstairs to be questioned by his team, in hopes that they were closer to saving Astrid from Tina's father.

Caitlin, Dr Jackson, Cisco and Barry stood around the girl, Tina, trying to decide where their interrogation should start. Cisco held up a photo of his friend. "Have you seen this girl and if so where, and when?" He waved it in front of Tina in 'bad cop' sort of way.

"Go sit down Cisco! She is frightened, can't you see that?" Caitlin came to her rescue, "We need the full story and please do not leave a thing out!"

Barry gave the girl a glass of water and she began. "Mr Keyes, the man you caught outside, he has been giving my father secrets of your research facility. He helped him build this machine. Some sort of time machine."

"Where did he get that idea from?" Cisco asked her, curiously.  
"I'm not sure. He said it was one of your top secret assignments." She told him puzzled.  
He nodded for her to go on. "He believes this machine can travel through time. Only he is looking for something. Some sort of key for it to open the door. His plan is to break into these other worlds to steal the essence of the people with extra abilities to create his own army…"

"We can't allow him to use that machine!" Dr Henry Jackson told them. "we can't allow him to find the key to this time travel machine. I never should have written out the blueprints!"

The group looked at Henry Jackson in surprise. "Blueprints? You mean this is your invention?" Caitlin questioned him.  
"Yes, and Mr Keyes must have given him the blueprints. I never ever actually built the machine, but they obviously have."

"Dr Jackson, now is the time that you tell us everything!" Cisco boomed at him.  
"I will, but we need to get Astrid back, immediately. And I am not just talking about the one that has been kidnapped from her father." Dr Jackson told them, pointing his gaze at Tina.

"You have promised to keep me safe, I am going to need you to keep that promise." Tina spoke. "You have our word," Barry promised.

Tina told them where her father's hideout was. In a flash, Barry was gone!


	13. Chapter 13 - Earth Prime

Astrid's follow-up sleep assessment had been set up right away for 4:30pm that afternoon. He had been more than willing to oblige and fit her in before the day was over. Astrid met with Emma, Dr Snow and Dr Wells outside the facility, in the car park.

"You're not going in Dr Wells," Emma told the man, "It's much too dangerous! What if someone recognizes you?"

"I am not letting you girls go through with this alone. I put you up to this and I am willing to see to it that the machine is destroyed for all our sakes." The doctor told them adamantly.

Ever since he and Astrid had spoken on the ride, back to Astrid's place and up until now, she no longer saw the man as unstable. He had all his bearings and she knew that he was willing to do whatever it took to see this plan through.

"We need him Em. He will know how to shut the machine down without the plan backfiring."  
Emma nodded though she still seemed unsure if she wanted him there.  
"So do we all know what our plan is?" Dr Snow asked, as she pulled a large cylinder of paper out from her car and handed it to Emma.

"I'm certain of it!" Emma responded. Astrid nodded. "I'll meet you all up ahead! I'm counting on the lot of you to stick to the plan, if this is to work." She told them.

She swung her handbag over her shoulder, entered the building and informed the receptionist that she was there for her follow-up with Dr Fullton. It didn't take long for the doctor to meet her in the waiting room.

"Astrid, I do apologize for my little outburst yesterday, I was just a little frustrated that my machine could malfunction as it did."

Astrid tried to probe his mind, but somehow he had put up a wall. 'Clever man!' she thought to herself. She followed him into his office and hoped that the rest of her group were ready to do their parts.

"So how have you been since yesterday?" Dr Fullton asked her. Playing undercover was always one of Astrid's favourite things to do when it came to solving crimes back home. The only issue was that so many people knew who she was so the opportunity didn't arise too often.

"I must admit, yesterday scared me. Though last night my dreams scared me to the point that I wasn't sure I was going to wake up. So I had to come back! I just had to!"

"I understand that your doctor requested to be here… Dr Snow is it? I also sent word to Anne your psychologist. I know that you told her once that you would prefer her to be with you when you came here."

Astrid still could not read his mind, but she had a feeling that the man was lying. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Dr Fullton went to greet the visitor. It was Anne Davids. Astrid cursed to herself in her mind.

She tried to probe Anne's mind but once again she had hit a wall and could not read her thoughts. She couldn't understand why this was happening.

"Astrid!" Anne exclaimed. "I am so glad that you managed to reach out to Dr Fullton again, despite what happened yesterday." Anne took a seat alongside Astrid, facing Dr Fullton. "You had an analysis from those reports yesterday, Dr Fullton?" Anne asked him.

"I do actually. Though I believe we are wai…" Dr Fullton was interrupted by another knock at the door. "That must be Dr Snow now." He opened the door again letting in Caitlin.

She looked over at Astrid, and nodded a "hello."

Astrid read her thoughts, 'The others are ready, I will distract them here. Tell them you need the toilet or something.' Dr Snow told her mentally.

"Hey, Dr Fullton. I'm sorry, I had some really hot food for lunch and it is really upsetting my stomach right now. Is there a toilet…?" Astrid pleaded with the man.  
Dr Fullton had a look of disgust on her face, making Astrid try to conceal her smile with a feign look of embarrassment. "Sure, It's down the hall and to the left." He told her.

Astrid made her way out of the office and closed the door behind her. She had technically five minutes to meet with Emma and Wells, and to get the job done. She checked her phone. One message from Emma. 'Red elevator' was all it said.

She had remembered the red elevators from her walk in to the office. She made it to them and was surprised to see an 'out of order sign' on the door. There was a cleaning trolley blocking the entrance. Suddenly the doors opened, where Wells (who was dressed up in a handyman's set of overalls and a hat), and Emma (who was wearing a white lab coat) were both standing inside.  
"I managed to steal an image and frequency distorter from one of the offices." Wells told her as he pushed the button to the top floor. "They will not be able to see us or hear us on the cameras as I have applied it to this one already."

Emma pulled out the sketched blueprints and tried to make sense of them. "I know where she acquired those blueprints, it is so sad to see she couldn't bust him out too." He told her, "though we won't need them, I know exactly where we are going."

"I am trusting you, Wells." Astrid told him truthfully.  
"And I promise you, I will honor that trust, Miss Sutherland." He replied. Astrid checked the time on her phone, "we have about three minutes." "We can do this in two." He replied casually. Finally, the elevator doors opened again. "I am surprised that no one else has used this elevator." Astrid told them as they made their way out.

Emma chuckled. "I left a cleaner's trolley and a 'elevator out of order sign on the doors of every floor before you arrived." Wells told her.

"Very clever!" she told him.

They had reached a corridor. "This is it, through here!" Dr Wells told them as he led them in through a door that entered into a large laboratory filled with inventions and computers. All the lights were currently switched off, though the computer screens and desk lights emitted a dim eerie glow throughout the room.

Like a child in a toy store, Wells began marveling at all the machines that beheld them. He ran to the biggest machine in the room and pulled an IPad from the console. "Take this, Astrid. Keep it safe!" She placed it into her handbag, hidden in one of the compartments.

He then moved back to the console of the large machine. It reminded Astrid of the Turbo Pulse Accelerator back home. Within seconds, Dr Harrison Wells had turned the machine on and the machine began emitting a green and white glow of energy that began spinning at an uncontrollable rate. "Please stand back girls!" Dr Wells told them.

Astrid took three steps back, however Emma made a run straight for the energy force.  
"What are you doing, Emma! Emma get back! It's unstable!" Wells yelled at her but he wasn't able to move from the machine.

Astrid tried to grab at Emma's shirt but she slid free from her fingers. "Emma! No!" she yelled. "It might be my only chance to see my father again!" Emma told them. She took one last look and before anyone could go after her, she ran into the energy, disappearing for good.

"That stupid girl! She could die!" Dr Harrison Wells said as he continued bashing his fingers furiously on the console.

Astrid could barely believe her eyes. All of a sudden there was a BANG from the machine, though the pulsating green energy did not disappear.

To Astrid's surprise someone switched on all the lights in the room, though it was not Harrison. She turned to look behind her and saw Dr Fullton standing there. "Hurry up Dr Wells!" Astrid told him. "I am trying to, Astrid." He told her, panic-stricken.

"I wondered how long it would take you to come and find my machine." Dr Fullton spoke to her eerily as he slowly walked towards her. "I know exactly who you are. Astrid Sutherland. I know that you did not come from this world, that you came to stop me from wreaking havoc throughout the multiverse and that you can read minds, you probably haven't noticed that I am wearing an ear piece that allows me to stop you from reading my mind."

Astrid glared at the man as he tried to make his way towards Wells. Like a lioness ready to strike Dr Fullton at any moment, Astrid continued to protect Harrison.

'How are you going with that?' She wondered to Wells, trying to open the lines of communication as she had done with future Barry in her own world.

'I have just managed to override the system. It just needs one more final shutdown… Keep him talking!' Wells thought back to her.

"Why would you even want to destroy the multiverse?" She questioned Fullton.  
"Because where I can destroy, I can also create! Dear girl. I can become a God among men! With all the knowledge that I have gained in researching the multiverse, there is so much power that I can control. Why wouldn't I want such power?"

"You don't deserve that power! How could you even get such technology? That ear piece… This machine!"  
"I met my… I think the word is doppelganger? He gave me a piece of the meteor that hit your earth a few years back. I have just been studying it ever since then. Now enough talk." Dr Fullton pulled out a gun from his pocket and aimed it at Astrid.

Astrid ran at the man and grabbed the gun from his hand, out of adrenaline. It had been a while since she had done so, but she remembered the move from her self defence training as if it were yesterday.

But it was too late, Dr Fullton had let his finger pull the trigger. The bullet went straight through Dr Wells head.

"Dr Fullton, I don't care what is going on, you just shot a man." A familiar voice came from behind them. It was Anne Davids. Though the tone was of pure mockery.

Oh Anne! Please help me." Astrid called out at the psychologist.  
"I don't even know you who you really are, you are not the Astrid that I have come to know or are you?" Anne shot back. "Oh wait! By my records, you are quite an unstable character, Astrid Sutherland. Unfortunately, I am going to have to detain you at the psychiatric hospital for your own safety."

Astrid was still holding the gun in her hands, she aimed it at Dr Fullton and then at Anne, just in time for two policemen to walk in and restrain her, putting her in handcuffs. "I have written up a report, she is to be put into the psychiatric hospital immediately." Anne told them.

Astrid wondered what had happened to Dr Snow. She had clearly betrayed them all. Astrid realized just how alone she really was on this earth.


	14. Chapter 14 - Earth 27

It was the early hours of the morning and the Flash looked over at his handiwork. An entire research Center of Dr Fullton's men restrained and unconscious on the floor. He sent an alert to the CCPD for their arrests. Though where was the man known as Red and more importantly where was Astrid?

His question was about to be answered. "The Flash! Or should I say… Barry Allen."  
Barry turned around to see a man in a suit holding Astrid by the hair, with a gloved hand. His other hand was bare and hovering around her cheek. He had to think twice that it wasn't his friend who was stuck on another earth.

"It is good to finally meet you face to face. You have taken out so many of my men, I even acquired your essence that time at the warehouse when you were caught in our little net. Though something else happened that night." Red spoke with a menacing tone.

"Your friend, proved that she wasn't just our plain rich girl Astrid Sutherland. Somehow she caused all my men to suffer slight interruptions to their nervous system, without making a sound. You would understand my surprise when I found that this girl I hold right here isn't the correct one. When she didn't have any powers to contribute to my army."

Barry looked at the girl who was in a panic state. "I don't know what you are talking about." Barry tried to bluff. He needed to be strategic, if one thing went wrong this girl could die.  
Red laughed menacingly, "Oh I apologize, let me clarify. I had word from across time that this world's Astrid is currently locked away in a padded cell and she can't use her abilities as they\e have all that covered. Word is that she tried to stop some machine and got labelled as crazy."

Barry stared at the man, surely he was bluffing. To him, she had only been gone a couple days and now she had failed with her mission and had been placed in a psychiatric hospital? Even if this was true he couldn't tell Cisco.

Though he needed to hear more. It seemed that Red was willing to deliver more.  
"You won't be able to get her back without my help. Time runs differently in our world compared to others. Days run faster there. My machines offer the only way to enter that gate. Why do you think Dr Jackson hasn't yet retrieved his daughter? You all need me… and right now, I am willing to help you."

"Help us? Why?" Barry found an opening to freeing the girl, he needed to keep the man talking. "Well it seems that my other self has become a little greedy. In his plan to destroy the universes. After everything that I have provided him with he is willing to destroy me in his plan. Call it self-preservation and a favor for a favor."

"How can I believe you?" Barry asked him.  
Without a second thought, Red threw Astrid to the floor. That was Barry's minute. He swept forward, restrained the man and brought him back to Sutherland Labs, attaching a set of meta-human handcuffs on him and locking him in an empty room that had once been used to hold a large gorilla, before the team had freed it.

Barry then went back to retrieve Astrid, she had barely noticed what had happened. "Are you ok?" he asked her. "Is he gone for good? Please don't work with him!" she pleaded with Barry. "Don't worry, we won't need to work with him. Let's get you back to the Labs." Astrid nodded in agreement.

"Oh please don't tell me you actually put that man under our roof." Cisco told him.  
"Well until the CCPD gets an overhaul of who was working with him, we need him where he can't hurt anybody. So I'm keeping him in the old gorilla cell. Don't worry he has the meta human handcuffs on and I sealed and locked all the doors. He shouldn't be able to get out."

"Did you guys realize that we have a whole floor that we could use for a meta-human prison?" Caitlin asked them. Cisco and Barry looked at her, stumped.  
"She is right." Dr Jackson told them. "I have been working here for a very long time. Back when Mrs Sutherland was sick I was part of a team that researched diseases. We had an entire floor built equipped with quarantined holding cells. With a few tweaks we could use them for the meta-humans instead of piling them in to the CCPD prison cells."

Cisco and Barry looked at each other. If only they had known this a while ago. "I'll… er chat to Joe, maybe even Captain Singh… and of course Astrid when we get her back." Barry told them. Caitlin led the other Astrid to the medical bay to give her a drink and assess her over.

Barry continued, "Speaking of Astrid, Red had a few scary things to say. He knows where Astrid is, and how to get her back."

The group looked at him. "That man looks as if he would say anything to get out of trouble," Cisco chimed in.

"He was talking about the machines, wasn't he?" Dr Jackson asked him.

"As far as I know. That's what I was going to show you and Cisco. His research lab is filled with machines and tech that you two would just love to get your hands on, including your machine, Mr Jackson. I was going to take the two of you over there to get to work, whenever you're ready."

Dr Jackson was impressed, "When do we go?"  
"I figured you all might be tired, we haven't slept in… I don't know how long. But if you're eager, I can take you both now. I am just waiting to hear back that the CCPD have made their arrests."

"I'll pack the coffee," Cisco told them quickly. "I don't think I will be able to sleep until we know where she is and how to get her back."  
As he walked past his desk he saw the metal box from the corner of his eye. He thought back to his vision that he had seen earlier. He picked it up and continued to get the coffee.

"I will stay here, Barry," Caitlin said, "I gave Astrid a sedative. She needs to sleep after all that she has been through."

Just then, Joe walked through the door. "Tina has gone with witness protection, and I assume that you found our guy."

"I did. I found him at an old research lab. He is down in the old gorilla cell a few floors below this one." Barry told him, "I need you to ask the detectives to leave all the machines at the research labs so our team can go over them. We may have found a way to get Astrid back."

"Did I hear that correctly? You locked him in a gorilla cage?" Joe asked, with disbelief.  
"He sure did." Caitlin confirmed, "A sweet gorilla named Grodd used to live there. When Astrid found out what was going on she had him moved to an animal rehabilitation facility."

Caitlin placed a blanket over her friend's doppelganger who was sleeping soundly, just as Joe received a phone call.  
"I have the coffee, and I am ready to go if Dr Jackson is," Cisco declared.  
"Have the police made their arrests?" Barry asked once Joe's phone call had ended.  
"Yes they have, they are just finishing up. They are leaving all the machines for you to go over. I suggest you make it quick." Joe told them. "Quick is the only way I know. Let's go." Barry told Henry and Cisco.

"Maybe we should just drive over?" Henry said, a little unsure of travelling with Barry.

Dr Jackson and Cisco Ramon went over the machines at Red's research lab. The police had been and gone, with Barry and Joe telling them that Cisco and Henry were collecting the data needed to make full arrests for everyone involved.

"So you get visions of the future?" Henry asked him, trying to extend a metaphorical olive branch. Cisco looked at the man and sighed, there was no point arguing with the man that was going to help get his friend back.

He was still holding the metal box in his hands and remembered the sequence that Red had used to open it. "Yeah, I do. But apparently I can also get visions of other universes now too." He thought back to Astrid in the psychiatric hospital.

He looked around the room and then back at the box, he tested out the sequence on the side of it. Just as Red had done. It popped open and revealed a TV screen. Yet what the screen displayed wasn't any ordinary show he had seen.

He saw Astrid banging on a door and screaming out of fury. She was in a padded cell and was crying hysterically. The sight of her like this made him jump back and drop the box on the floor. "What happened?" Henry asked.

Cisco bent down and picked up the box, fortunately it had not broken. Henry went over to a shelf and picked up another, entirely identical to the one in Cisco's hands.

"There is two of them," he handed it to Cisco.  
Cisco took it and examined them both. "Future me didn't make this one. It is different. I think the person who made the netting also made this box."

Cisco sat down, holding them both, and trying to make sense of what he had just seen. Just in time for Barry to return, he entered the room saying something, though Cisco didn't hear him. "Cisco! Are you ok?" Barry asked his friend.

"He saw some image that must have shocked him." Henry told Barry.  
Barry crouched down to Cisco's level. "What did you see?"  
"That machine thing. It showed me something… Barry! It showed me Astrid in some sort of padded cell."

"It was probably nothing. We will get her back."  
"It didn't feel like nothing… it felt like something… I felt something. Astrid is in trouble. What did Red tell you?" Cisco asked him, softly.

"He told me… he told me that Astrid has been put into a padded cell. That people thought she was crazy. I thought he might have been bluffing. I didn't want to tell you in case it wasn't true."

"You should have told me Bar!" Cisco could feel anger and fear building up inside of him. "Have you figured out that time machine, Henry?" Cisco asked Dr Jackson, ignoring Barry.  
"I have. But you won't like it! There is a key missing. It seems we do need Red to work it. I can try and work around it but it might take a week, at least."

"A week? We don't have a week! We don't know how long we have at all!" Cisco threw both the boxes across the room. As he did something astonishing happened.

Silver pulsating energy shot from his hands, pushing the boxes further and making them smash in midair and fall onto the floor. "Cisco, what just happened there?" Barry asked.

He had surprised even himself with his new ability. "I don't know. It was some sort of...some sort of vibrating energy coming from my hands."

"I think I have an idea on how we can bypass the multiverse gates," Dr Jackson told them. "It's got to do with vibrations and both of your abilities combined. I think we have enough technology here to work with to go and get her back!"


	15. Chapter 15 - Earth Prime

Astrid let out another shrill scream, though she knew that it was useless.  
Nobody was going to come to her rescue on this earth. She had been in this padded cell for over two weeks now, away from the rest of the patients.

She could barely remember the last time she had seen another human being. Her meals were passed through a slot in the door. This room seemed to be built with the same technology that dampened her powers as her bracelet and the handcuffs for the meta-human criminals back home.

She felt bad for the death of Dr Wells. In this cell she could only go over the moments of his death. If only she had been a split second faster. But she was not Barry. If only she could have seen the future. But she was not Cisco.

If only she could have read that man's mind and knew that he had the gun. If only she knew that Emma had been planning to use them to find her father. Astrid had been stupid and in doing so, her actions had led to a man's death. She vowed to herself that she would never make the same mistake again.

She thought about what was at stake. She would never get the opportunity to make the mistake again. She hated feeling sorry for herself, but she had spent the first week hoping that her friends would save her, but they hadn't come. Maybe they never would.

Astrid laid on the hard bed again and sobbed. Thinking of her friends was the only thought that kept her sane. She had hit her lowest low and she felt that she was going crazy just being here.

That this was what happened to all her patients who were insane, but she wasn't insane. She was from another world! She did come to save the world and she had failed in doing so. She thought of Barry, of Caitlin and then of Cisco.

In her mind she could hear his voice, telling her that 'everything will be ok' and that they were coming to save her. She knew that it was just her mind trying to convince her to hold on to her sanity.

All of a sudden she heard a knock on the door. She sat up immediately and tried to read who it was, but she reminded herself that her powers wouldn't work from this room. She tried to remember some of her martial arts training, but nothing came to mind.

She stood up to her feet and slowly walked to the door, in time for it to open quickly.  
She felt herself fill with rage at the person who had just entered the room with her. Dr Caitlin Snow. "You betrayed me! You betrayed us!" she shouted at the woman, who closed the door behind her.

"I didn't betray you." She spoke in an almost whisper to Astrid, "When you entered the room you triggered some silent alarm. I was able to get into the camera footage and make a copy. I am able to lock away Dr Fullton for the murder of Dr Wells. Just as I am able to help you out of here but we have to be careful."

She handed Astrid a handbag and then spoke in a louder tone, "I brought you your things, I have gone through them to make sure there is nothing dangerous in them. I will be back to check on you later."

Astrid eyed the handbag off suspiciously, then took it as Dr Snow left her alone in the room again, closing the door behind her. Astrid fell to her knees in tears again at the thought of her freedom once again being taken away from her.

After a few minutes she kicked the bag over to hear a few things clatter inside of it. She reached over and picked it up. She took a look inside to find a few objects, a brush and some toiletries. But then she noticed something else… a closed separate compartment.

She opened it up and found an IPad. It was the same IPad that Dr Wells had given her from the research lab. Astrid took it out and switched on the power button. It had a full battery. Astrid knew that Dr Snow had broken a few rules by bringing her this, so whatever Astrid was to do, she needed to work fast.

She scrolled through the icons and found one with data relating to the machines in the laboratory. Instruction manuals! She found another file: a map of the facility with alarm codes and passwords. She had the answers that she needed. Now she only needed to break free from this hospital. To do so she would need help from the outside.

She heard noises coming from out in the hallways. She hid the IPad in her mattress and sat cross legged facing the door. There was an orderly with a wheelchair, "Dr Snow requested that you come out for some social interaction so I am here to take you."

He gestured towards the wheelchair so Astrid climbed in, excited to have the chance to be out of this room. She knew that she would have looked disheveled but she didn't care for the first time in her life.

As she was wheeled into the common room she recognized Barry's double, Bart. He was playing a game of chess against himself. He would make a move and then turn the board around and make a move of the opposite color. "Can you sit me next to that person there?" she asked the orderly as she pointed to Bart. The orderly obeyed her command and then left.

"Hi," she spoke to Bart, who seemed neither glad nor annoyed with her presence. He didn't respond. "You don't know if you can trust me, do you?" she asked him.  
"I trusted you and you got my friend killed." he told her bluntly, without looking up.

"It wasn't my fault!" she told him, trying to convince herself all the more.  
Bart continued to ignore her, but continued to play his game.  
"Check mate in two moves," she told him. He looked up at her, "where?"  
Astrid played the final moves of his game. "See? Checkmate!"

"You play?" He asked her.  
"I used to play all the time. Before my father passed away," she told him, helping him setup for another game.

"Back in your own universe?" he asked her.  
"That is correct. As crazy as it sounds."  
"It doesn't sound crazy at all. We are probably the most sane people in this place. Can you read minds in here?"

"I haven't tried since I left my cell."  
"So try…" he instructed her, "Try on him." Bart pointed over to the orderly that had brought her into the room.  
Astrid concentrated and began to read him. 'This job sucks! I'm filled with the crazies…'  
"It worked." She giggled softly to Bart.  
"Now try him." Bart pointed to Francisco who was gazing out the window.

Astrid focused on him, but before she could start reading, he turned and looked right at her, as if he knew exactly who she was. He seemed to look right through her, as if he were reading her own mind.

"I…I can't." She told Bart, "not now… I think he just… somehow stopped me!"  
"That's because he knows you. You frightened him the other day because he has seen you before." Bart told her, his voice so low.

"I haven't seen… well him… exactly…" Astrid stammered.  
"No, you saw someone who looks exactly like him in your world, and someone who looks exactly like me in your world."

"What did Dr Wells tell you about me?" Astrid ask, wondering how the hell Bart knew all this. "Not very much at all, Francisco told me enough about you for me to know who you are." He told her.

"Francisco can talk?" Astrid asked, looking over at Francisco.  
"He used to. He stopped when you came. He sees these things… he gets…"  
"Visions." Astrid finished Bart's sentence. "What happened to you Bart?" Astrid asked, despite him already telling her when they last met.

"I used to be able to run, I came here with Francisco from an alternate timeline. We came for the same reason. The reason you were sent this time and not our doubles from your world. We tried to destroy the same machine, though something went wrong and Francisco… Cisco lost his mind. My powers were somehow stopped and I ended up in an accident. That is why I am in this chair now."

Astrid shook her head. "No, none of that makes sense! Dr Fullton would have said something. There would be some kind of proof." She couldn't believe any of this.

"That room… No that machine reset time when the explosion happened. I was the one who told Wells to give you the IPad. Cisco made you the map of the facility."

"Why didn't you help us with the plan? Dr Snow could have got you out to help us." she told him.  
"How could I help?" Bart raised his voice and slammed his fist on the table making multiple people in the room turn and look at them. Astrid and Bart looked around and made sure that everyone looked away before Bart continued speaking softly again.

"How could I help?" he asked her again, "I am in a wheelchair. I can't run anymore and Cisco? He can barely string sentences together. This place is designed to make the sane go insane. When he got admitted, they immediately assumed that I was insane with him. I just let them believe it."

"Checkmate." Astrid told him, she had won the game, "So help me!" she pleaded. "The Flash that I know... He wouldn't just give up, even if he couldn't run, he would find some way to help out. It's who he is… It's who you are! He would try and try again."

"You won't need our help." Astrid and Bart looked at the person who had joined the conversation. Francisco was standing next to them, and he had spoken.

"Cisco?" Bart gasped. Francisco sat down on the chair between them and looked at Astrid. He had reminded her of her friend Cisco from back home when he was having one of his visions.

"Your friends have sent you a message." Francisco told her, "They have worked out how to break through the gate. They are coming to help you, Astrid."  
Then just as if nothing had happened Francisco went back to his regular self, entirely confused at why he was even sitting with the pair of them. He stood up and walked away.

"They're coming to help us?" Astrid asked, only out loud and to herself.  
"But if they do, we need to be ready with a plan, so they don't end up like us and in here." Bart told her,  
"You mean you are going to help me?" Astrid asked him  
"As much as I can. You're right, I shouldn't give up! Even though I don't have my powers, I cant let the multiverse get destroyed. If you're willing to work with me and him," he pointed to Francisco, "I promise you, we will do whatever we can."


	16. Chapter 16 - Earth 27

Back at Sutherland Labs, Dr Jackson was running through the plan with Barry, Caitlin and Cisco, while Astrid slept.

"So let me get this straight, you want me to create some sort of doorway to the other world using my abilities? And for Barry to run through it? I hate to burst your bubble, doc, but I don't think that is how it all works." Cisco told Henry.

"That's exactly what I want the pair of you to do, but as you do so, I need you to focus on the world where Astrid is and wear these too." He handed Cisco a pair of hi-tech looking glasses that he had just put together.

"How are these Robo-cop looking things supposed to help?" Cisco asked examining the pair.  
"They're supposed to help you channel your abilities." Dr Jackson told him, pacing with enthusiasm, "You shot pulsating vibrations from your hands, When Barry runs his entire body… every atom is vibrating. If we can harness that vibration along with your visions of the place that Astrid is in, in theory, it should cause a breach through the walls and send Barry through to the other world."

"Alright… I see where you are going with this, but if Barry goes over there, I'm going too. He will need me to get back anyway. They both will." Cisco replied.  
"Deal!" Barry answered, refusing to hear "no" for an answer from Henry.

"I hate to be a nay-sayer here, but what happens if your plan doesn't work, Dr Jackson?" Caitlin broke in, "Don't we risk the chance of killing them in the process?"

"That's why we test the theory out first." Dr Jackson told her, "We have one shot at this. we need to make sure it works."  
"I'm all for not being crushed to death by strong vibrations." Cisco joked, "But what did you have in mind?"

"Well first Cisco, I need you to practice shooting shock waves from your hands. We need to let them get big enough to push objects through and send them to the other side of the room. If that works then we will try the real thing." Dr Jackson told him.

Henry set up an area in a large open hall for Cisco to start target practice with and the group waited for Cisco to get started with anticipation.

Cisco put on his 'robo-cop glasses', breathed in, focused hard and flung his hands out, though nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing happened. "I don't think its working," Caitlin told Dr Jackson.  
"You need to focus, Cisco." Henry told him.  
"I am focusing. Maybe it just isn't going to work!" Cisco was ready to give up.

"Hey, you were angry last time it happened. Maybe it works on your emotions." Barry told his friend. "Think about all that is at stake if we don't help Astrid."

Cisco listened to Barry. He took another breath and thought. He thought about Astrid, locked away in the padded cell. He thought about everything that future Barry had told them, about the end that was coming.

He remembered that he had wasted the last chance he had with Astrid by not being able to tell her how he felt. Not being able to tell her that he loved her. Now he might not ever get the chance again. That was it! He felt the power raging within his skin. He flung his hands back out in front of him and let out a large burst of energy that left a large dent into the wall.

"Wow!" he said out loud, "that was so cool!"  
"Now you need to focus, Cisco. Those waves need to be larger in size and you need to hold them there for at least a minute." Dr Jackson instructed.

Cisco could feel an intense headache coming on, though he mustered through it. Thinking of the same things. Feeling the same emotions. He flung his hands out and released a powerful shock-wave, this time bigger. He focused on letting it sit in midair.

His headache instantly grew much more powerful and he felt his nose start bleeding, but he continued to focus on what he was doing. For Astrid's sake.

"Cisco! Cisco! You need to stop!" he could hear Caitlin's voice over the sounds of the energy. He could make out her voice over his headache. He tried to mentally call out to Astrid, to the people that resembled he and Barry, telling her 'to hold on,' that they 'were on their way to save her.' He didn't know if she could hear him, but deep down he felt that she could get his message. As impossible as it sounded.

"He needs to stop this!" Caitlin yelled out. Barry immediately took hold of his friend, breaking his concentration and the energy wall disappeared right before his very eyes.

"Why did you do that, Barry?" He asked his friend, removing his glasses, rubbing the blood from his nose away with his hand and then on his pants.

"You looked like it was about to kill you." Barry told him.  
"We can't make him do that again," Caitlin demanded of Dr Henry Jackson.  
"What are you talking about? He almost had it! That was it! The only way to save them!" Dr Henry Jackson told her.

"Of who else are you referring to, Henry?" Caitlin had heard his slip up with 'them' instead of 'her'. "Who else do we need to save?" she probed. They were all staring at Dr Jackson now and he needed to tell them the whole truth.

"I haven't been entirely upfront about my past," he began. "I am originally from Earth Prime. The world where our Astrid is now. Over five years ago I worked with a man named Dr Wells. We built this machine. It would work as a gateway to other dimensions. Though it was highly unstable. There was a man who found out about our invention. His name was Dr Fullton. The doppelganger of Red. He wanted to use this machine, to his own accord.

The night of my daughter's birthday I went to work. I got a call from Wells telling me to come to the laboratory right away. Fullton had found the machine and was set to use it. He wanted to create his own dimension.

I told him there were still so many bugs and that if he wouldn't believe me I would prove it. He held a gun to me and told me to "go ahead! Be the first human guinea pig and travel through time." I tried to argue and then he told me he would kill Emma. I made it to this timeline, a few months before the meteor hit. But something happened and I never made it back."

"do you mean to tell me that we are fixing your mistakes? That it is your mistake that is going to destroy the multiverse?" Cisco could only see fire at that moment. He shot a shock-wave through the air, just missing Henry by a millimetre.

"I understand why you are mad! I am angry at myself too." He told them.  
"What's done is done!" Barry told them, "We need to put it behind us and protect both Astrid... and Emma and bring them here. Cisco, if you are not up to it. We will try something else."

"No, Barry I am good to go. What's our next move? Teleport an object right? I'm ready now." Cisco told him.

"Ahem. Yes" Henry said, startled from the shock-wave that came pelting past him, "When you're ready, do the same thing and we will throw this ball into the energy force, the second it goes in, you need to think of a place that you want it to appear. Are you ready?"

"Do you have to ask? Cisco asked him, still irritated with the doctor. Cisco brought the energy force back up with the same mental procedure as before. Dr Jackson threw the ball as hard and as fast as he could into the pulsating energy force.

To their dismay, it seemed to ricochet off the vibrations and into a separate direction.  
"Maybe it would help if I threw it," Barry suggested. He picked up the ball and threw it as fast as he could. Just in time for Cisco to envision a spot on the other side of the room.

They turned around at the sound of the ball bouncing from right where Cisco had imagined it. "It worked!" Barry said, as if trying to believe what he had just seen. "Yeah… it worked!" Caitlin could barely believe it either.

"So when do we leave?" Cisco asked, wiping more blood from his nose.  
"er… after we get you checked out!" Caitlin told him, running off to go and get her first aid pack and some tissues.


	17. Chapter 17 - Earth Prime

Astrid sat on her bed in her cell. It had been three days since she had spent time in the common room with the rest of the patients, including Bart and Francisco. The conversation with them had given her some new hope, but she hadn't seen Dr Snow again.

She was curious to see as to how Dr Snow was going to get her out of this place. One of the nurses had told her this morning that Dr Snow was coming to visit with news, so she assumed that she would get her chance to ask.

It had been an hour since she had eaten her breakfast. She had also memorized herself with the apps and data on the IPad. She was waiting impatiently for Dr Snow to arrive. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she showed up with a backpack.

"I really hope you have checked out the contents of the handbag that I gave you, as we have a whole lot of work to do, Astrid. You are able to be released, I have signed the paperwork myself and have sent the video footage evidence over to the police of Dr Wells being shot. So if you will get these clothes on…" she handed Astrid the backpack, which contained clothes,

"That's great!" Astrid was relieved, "But I want to help Bart and Francisco out too. We could use their help getting into the facility and they want to help."

Dr Snow looked at Astrid, "I would love to help them too, but I'm not able to prove Francisco is of sound mind, and if you ask me, I believe that Bart truly wants to be here. He would say anything to keep himself here on the tests."

"Please! We have to try, at least let me see them before I leave!" she begged.  
"Just put these clothes on and I will arrange them to meet you on the way out. I have to speak with them, anyway. I will be back in ten minutes."

Astrid put the clothes on as quick as she could. These were clearly the other Astrid's clothing, who certainly had a very different taste to her own. But they looked better than the dull hospital gown that she had been wearing for the past few weeks. She brushed her hair, trying to envision how it looked in her mind. Then she sat on the bed and waited for Dr Snow to return.

When she did return, she handed Astrid some forms and a pen to sign. "these are your discharge papers. I need you to sign them, we also have your friends waiting in the common room to say goodbye to you. Any requests after we leave?" she asked as Astrid signed.

"I would love to go to Big Belly Burger right about now!" Astrid said with a severe craving. "A what?" Dr Snow asked her.

"A big… oh no! Do you even have burgers on this earth?" Astrid asked her,  
"I will take you to McDonalds. That might be just as good. If you're ready, say goodbye to this room. We can leave now."  
"I highly doubt anything could beat a Big Belly Burger." Astrid said under her breath, and followed the doctor out of the room, down the hall and into the common room where the rest of the patients were sitting.

The moment she saw Bart she ran to him and gave him a hug, whispering "I will get you both out of here, I promise!" into his ear. Francisco looked neither happy nor sad to see her go when she went to say goodbye, but the moment she headed towards the door he ran after her and put something in her hand. A scrunched up paper ball.

"Thank you," she told him, "I will help you, however I can," and she left out the door with Dr Snow, putting the paper ball in her pocket.

As per her word, Dr Snow took Astrid for burgers, "So what was that place that you were talking about? That burger place?" she asked Astrid, as she took a sip of her coke.  
"Big Belly Burgers! They are to die for. I always said that if I had to choose one final meal, that would be it. No substitute. Though this will do for now, until I get back home." Astrid took a bite of her burger, "Plus, it beats that horrible hospital food. Anyway, all burger talk aside, we need to discuss this machine! Have you heard if Dr Fullton is being arrested? We need him out of the facility…"

"Astrid, please stop…" Dr Snow interrupted her.  
"What? Why?"  
"I just got you out of a psychiatric hospital. You are talking about breaking and entering a research facility to destroy a machine. That could land you in jail and I can't get you out of jail for that." Dr Snow needed her to see reason.

"So what? I need to just lay low as my doppelganger, until my friends can put me back into my body? That's not going to happen. Plus, my friends are on their way to help. We need to get this plan in motion." Astrid debated,

"Your friends are coming? Which friends?"  
"Barry and Cisco, from my Earth. Francisco got some sort of message and told us they were coming to help me."

Caitlin Snow rested her forehead on the table. This surely was not happening! It was all too far-fetched. "Don't tell me that you are doubting all this now." Astrid told her. "You saw what happened. You saw the footage of Emma jumping into that machine. I even read your mind."

"I know… I know," Dr Snow looked back up at Astrid, "I guess I am just having trouble believing it. Believing any of this."

"Well it doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. That machine will cause all the worlds to explode if it gets into the wrong hands, if we don't do something! Your world, my world! My sole purpose was to come here and stop that from happening. You have come this far with me, are you going to continue to help me or not?"

Caitlin thought for a moment. "Yes… yes I will help you. I just need to know how. What do you need me to do?"

"First of all we need the extra help, we are going to need Bart and Francisco. You're a doctor, can you make something up and say they are going on an excursion or something? We will also need to be sure that Dr Fullton has been arrested, or is out of the way or something." Astrid loved making plans. She always felt at her best when she was in control.

"I think I should be able to take care of both those things," Dr Snow told her.  
"I want to… when this is all over, I want to send Bart and Francisco back to their own earths. My friends should be able to help with that."

"So when do you want to do all of this?" Dr Snow asked her.  
"Tonight after 7, after it closes for the night. I need you to drop me off at the other Astrid's house before you do your part. I have some things to do before I go back to the facility, and I need Bart and Francisco to stay at the house. I will set up a communication link via Astrid's Laptop so we can keep in touch."

Dr Snow dropped her off at Astrid's house as planned and set to work finding out about Dr Fullton's fate, who was indeed currently behind bars for Harrison's murder. She then made her way to the facility to work on releasing Bart and Francisco.

Astrid set to work creating a network between the IPad and the Laptop, as Cisco from her earth had shown her to do many times. She went over passcodes, instructions and the facilities security systems so that she had memorized all the important ones. She made sure the Bluetooth to the phone worked beautifully.

She only wished that she could hack into the facilities cameras, but lacking that skill, she would resort to mentally scanning the area for any minds in the vicinity, of workers who were not wearing tech that prevented her from doing so.

Alas, 7pm was fast approaching. Dr Snow had managed to release her friend's doubles and brought them to the house. "How did you do it?" Astrid asked her, "No wait. I probably don't want to know."

"No, you don't, Astrid! I'm risking my job to help the lot of you, so please let it all be worth it!" Caitlin snow pleaded.  
"Don't worry, Dr Snow," Bart replied, "It will be!" He wheeled his chair into the lounge room and looked at the laptop that Francisco was now studying with great anticipation.

Astrid eyed him, hoping he wouldn't mess with the work that had taken her hours to accomplish and then looked over at Bart, "Please, I know his double is a computer genius, but it took me a long time to set the communication channel up. Please don't mess anything up! I will carry the IPad with me and I have the Bluetooth earpiece connected so I can keep in contact."

"Have you hacked into the facility's cameras?" Bart asked her, Francisco stared at her with interest. "Er… no! I'm not sure how to." She told them honestly.

Francisco immediately brushed his hair behind his ears in a real 'Cisco-fashion' and began typing furiously on the keys.  
"OH! No! No! No!" she leapt forward and tried to stop him just as a notification window came up. 'Security Camera Access Enabled'. "Oh?" she said startled, "he did it!"

"I think we will be fine here," Bart told Dr Snow, "I will keep an eye on Cisco, Astrid will probably need your help more than we will."  
"You're sure?" Caitlin asked, directing her gaze towards Astrid who was still surprised by Francisco's hacking abilities, considering his current state of mind.

"Take her, if she runs into trouble, I don't think she is invincible."  
"No, unfortunately, I'm not" Astrid agreed with Bart, slightly annoyed at how he fought for leadership, just as the Barry on her earth did. "Then we should set off quickly then," Dr Snow told Astrid, who looked at her watch and agreed.

As they sat in Dr Snow's car, parked outside the facility in the darkness, they went over their next few steps. Bart's voice rang in Astrid's ear, "Ok, Cisco has unlocked the front door and has access to the camera to the main entrance, you will need to move fast as it is currently empty."  
"He wants us to go now," Astrid told Dr Snow. They climbed out the car and ran through the carpark as tactfully as possible to not be noticed.

Astrid used her elbow to push the door open. She was wearing blue latex gloves that Caitlin had supplied her with, but still didn't want to risk getting her prints on the glass.

The door opened immediately and she closed it after Caitlin. "Ok, Bart! Were in!" She told him through the earpiece. "Good." He replied, "Quick! Hide someone is coming from the next room!"

Astrid and Caitlin ran and hid under the receptionist's desk. Holding their breaths in fear of being caught. They could hear as someone walked towards the desk and stood right next to it. Astrid looked down as she saw his feet from the underside of the desk facing towards the door from which they had come in.

She looked back at Caitlin. Fear was written all over the girl's face. Astrid bit her lip, hoping that Caitlin would not utter a peep. Astrid looked back down at the feet as they walked away. She waited a few more minutes until she heard Bart's voice in her ear again. "Ok, it's good, he's gone. That was a security guard. He is heading up to the stairwell. So you should be able to come out of hiding. Also Astrid, Francisco was able to hack into the cameras of the same floor as the machine. There are scientists working in the rooms down the hall, so you will need to be careful... Hey Francisco, are you ok?"

As Astrid and Caitlin came out of hiding, Bart's voice broke off for a few minutes.  
"Bart? Bart? Where are you? Where do we go next?"

"Astrid, Francisco just had a vibe. Your ability allows you to read people's thoughts, right?"  
"Yeah? So? What about it?" Astrid asked wondering what this had to do with the plan.  
"Well he just saw you manipulating someone to think just what you wanted them to think. Can you do that?" Bart asked her.

"What? No! I don't know! Why would I want to even try?" Astrid scoffed at him. She believed in free will. Astrid had been trained in a range of martial arts and gymnastics from the ages of 10 until she was 18 years of age. She had always fought using these skills. The thought of controlling someone's mind even if she was losing a fight was preposterous.

"You may need to consider it, Astrid." Bart told her, "Or things might get dicey in there."  
"Just tell us where to go from here," Astrid shot back.  
"Ok, sorry. Er… go to the next room, follow the hallway all the way down to the stair well. If you take the elevator you will cause too much attention, so be prepared for a good climb." Astrid pointed to the sign that said "stairwell", while looking at Caitlin.

"Can't we just take the elevator up a couple floors and then the stairs the rest of the way up?" Caitlin asked Astrid, repulsed by walking up all the steps. "Sorry Dr Snow, the elevator is much too loud and it will alert everyone to the floor you're on." Bart spoke, not sure whether she could hear him or not.

"Better go with their plan," Astrid told her as they made their way towards the stairwell, "let's be careful we don't run into the security guard from before." So they made their way towards the stairwell and began climbing.

"Alright girls, you've reached the floor," Bart told them.  
"And we didn't pass one person," Astrid replied, "I'm not sure whether that is a good thing or a really really bad thing."

"Why bad?" Caitlin asked her.  
"Normally if we haven't seen anyone by now it's either a lucky coincidence or going to be an ambush." Astrid told her, "Let's hope it's just a lucky coincidence." Dr Snow nodded nervously.

Astrid placed her gloved hand on the handle of the door, "Alright Barry, I'm about to open the door. What can you tell me?" she asked him.  
"Wait! What did you just call me?" Bart asked her.  
"Oh, I mean Bart. What did I say?"

"You called me Barry, please, don't do it again. That's not my name." He told her firmly. "You should be fine entering the next room. It's the corridor, but the rooms adjoining are filled with doctors. Go straight for the main lab and override the system before you can shut it down. Please do it accordingly or it will have dire consequences."

"I read you… Bart." Astrid answered him, while opening the door softly and quietly, and peered into the white-floored corridor. She glanced around and saw the elevator that she and Wells had come from the last time she was here. It made her sad to think of him.

"Are you ready?" she asked Caitlin. Dr Snow nodded, but she truly was not ready. She was beyond terrified. She followed Astrid out into the corridor anyway.

The girls crept through the corridor. They passed one open door. The room was dimly lit with a couple of scientists staring at computer screens. Astrid knew that she could take them, but she didn't want to risk alerting anyone else to their whereabouts.

The two walked on past the next open door. A group of scientists in white lab coats were standing around discussing some forms, between themselves. They were also entirely oblivious to Dr Snow and Astrid.

There were two more rooms to pass. The large laboratory was at the other end of the hallway. They managed to pass the next doorway. There didn't seem to be anyone in that one. One more doorway to go. Astrid picked up her pace. She only had a short way to go.

She began to hear some distortion to her earpiece. Some sort of static interference. Bart's voice came in incoherently, and soft. She didn't try to respond in case it alerted the scientists. At last she made it to the door to the laboratory.

The door was locked, but beside it was a keypad. Astrid gestured to the doors, asking Caitlin to keep watch, while she pulled out the IPad and began looking for the correct passcode to get into the room.

Fortunately, she had set up a shortcut to find it. She found the code and began pushing the buttons. The first button made a loud beep, that startled both the girls. Caitlin looked back to see if anyone had heard and was coming to investigate. Thankfully no one had.

Astrid dialed the next five digits as quickly as she could. Absolutely sure that someone would have heard by now. The door opened and Astrid and Caitlin ran into the room as fast as they could, closing the door behind them. They had made it.

The room was dark, so Astrid felt around for a light switch. She found one and a dial to dim the room. She turned the lights down as dim as they could go but still light enough to see.

She looked over at the machine, it was powered off so she made her way to the console, just as Harrison Wells had done, and turned on what looked like the power button. The machine made a loud powering on sound, just as the door that they had just entered, opened.

"You shouldn't be in here, Astrid Sutherland! Or You Dr Caitlin Snow." It was the psychologist, 'what was her name?' Astrid asked herself, 'Anne, that's right.'

"You don't understand what this machine can do." Caitlin Snow began as Astrid glanced through at the IPad and began typing into the console.  
"That is where you are wrong, Dr Snow! I do know what it can do. Dr Fullton told me everything, why do you think I referred Astrid to him in the first place?"

Anne was now accompanied by a few of the scientists who had been in the other rooms.  
"You're not going to call the police are you?" Dr Snow asked, knowing full well that they weren't.

"Why would we do that? This research lab has already been under scrutiny since Dr Wells' murder… and with the disappearance of Dr Emma Jackson? The footage you had was edited so they never saw just where she went, but it won't take long until they come looking."

"So what? You allow Dr Fullton to take the blame, then, you will just kill us and hide the evidence?" Dr Snow wanted to keep her talking just as Astrid had done for Wells that time. Astrid knew that letting her do this was wrong. That it would risk Dr Snow's life, but shutting this machine down was too damn important for her to care.

Two men in white lab coats seized Dr Snow as she struggled to break free, at just a nod of Anne's head. Three more seized at Astrid. But she fought them off, punching one in the stomach, one between the legs and pushing one so that his head hit the metal of the console hard so he was knocked unconscious and she continued typing.

The two men that had Dr Snow lead her away screaming. The two men who were crippled in pain pulled Astrid away from the console. She tried a mind-scream and realized that they were wearing the same earpieces that Dr Fullton had worn earlier. Of course they were!

She bit one whose arm was around her neck. She broke free and ran towards a table, picking up a pen and stabbing it into the arm of the other. She noticed as Anne switched off the console. She ran at her but she was stopped as someone pulled her back. The IPad fell from her grasp and landed face down on the floor.

She realized at that moment, that these men were not just plain scientists. These men were willing to die for this machine. Suddenly, she screamed out as something sharp penetrated her stomach. She looked down. Someone had pierced her with a pair of scissors.

Astrid waved her arm at the attacker. She pulled the earpiece from his ear and let out a blood-curdling mind-scream! She had more anger and power to it then back on her own earth.

The man screamed out in pain as blood trickled from his ears and he fell to the floor.  
Astrid wanted to rip the scissors from her abdomen. Only the handles were hanging out, though she knew if she did that she could bleed out.

She felt herself being grabbed by both her arms and pulled away. Anne moved from the console and to the man that was lying on the floor, thanks to Astrid's mind-scream, checking his pulse. She looked at the men who were dragging Astrid away. "He's dead!" she told them.

Those words "he's dead" rang through Astrid's ears. She had actually killed a man. She had failed twice and was now being dragged away. And now her powers had caused someone's death. Her abdomen hurt really bad. She knew that she was bleeding out. She had been dragged out of the room and into the hall. She didn't know where she was going. She could feel herself going limp and weak as she was losing blood so fast. The pain was so unbearable, that there was nothing more that she could do, than let her weakness take over her.


	18. Chapter 18 - Earth Prime

Astrid felt herself coming in and out of consciousness. Her mind abilities were weak. Her mind scream had taken a lot out of her… and she had killed a man in the process. She opened her eyes. She had been tied to a chair. Dr Snow was unconscious, in the chair right beside her. She was hot, exhausted and surrounded by the color red and metal. A boiler room. Astrid wondered where her earpiece had gone. It must have fallen out in the battle.

She kept imagining Cisco's voice. From her earth. As if he were standing right beside her and she was reading his thoughts. He kept telling her to remain strong, that he was on his way. With Barry. Not Bart!... Barry!

She knew that it was wishful thinking. How fitting it would be that she was here dying, bleeding out, with no bandages, like this, tied to this chair. She would never see her friends again, just as the other Astrid would not have a body to come back to on this earth, she woud have to keep the one she was in.

She had failed. She had failed her mission. Her abilities had not been a surprise on this earth, they had been prepared for her both times. Dr Fullton had left his work to the psychologist and their team of scientists, who would destroy all the gateways to the multiverse.

That machine needed to be destroyed now. It was pure evil. But she was in no position to stop them. She had taken too long to make a real difference with the machine. She had tried to override the detonation protocol before shutting down the machine for good. A detonation would cause a large explosion if it were to be shut down. The same explosion that had affected Francisco and Bart. But just as the console had said, there would be an explosion regardless if she shut down the machine for good.

Astrid closed her eyes. Her mind was weak. Her body weak. She could only wish that she had Barry's powers of regeneration. Her stomach hurt. She let herself think of her friends for one last time. She let herself escape into her memory. She was with Barry, Cisco and Caitlin. Her friends from her Earth. The four of them were sitting together at her house, on the lounge. They were eating pizza, watching movies.

"It's okay." Cisco's voice came from within her mind again. She let herself relax for a moment. This moment. She saw his face inching closer to hers as he kissed her on the lips. For the first time ever she allowed it to happen. No distractions, no interruptions.

Her mind told her, even if this was not reality, it would be her final moments with him, though it hurt her to the core that she could never tell him that she loved him. That she would never get the chance again. But in this moment, he knew. A tear trickled down her cheek as her mind grew dark.

"They're in here," Cisco's voice rang out in the large boiler room. "Her pulse is light. We have to get her free." Panic swam through his voice as he saw that she was bleeding out.

In an instant, The Flash freed Astrid as she fell from the chair, into Cisco's waiting arms, not waking. He laid her down on the ground and attempted to bandage her wound using his over shirt as a tourniquet.

The Flash then helped the other girl free. "This girl is coming to it. It's Caitlin's double." he told Cisco, as the other girl opened her eyes. "Astrid?" she spoke out, and as if she had just realized the torment that had befallen them, she sat up in an instant, wondering how Bart and Francisco had got here, she realized that it wasn't them. "You're… You're her friends… Where's Astrid?" she asked The Flash, who shook his head softly as he kept his eyes on his still unconscious friend.

Cisco brushed Astrid's hair off her face, "I can't lose you. Wake up!" He checked her pulse again, it had quickened since he had bandaged her wound. "How is she?" Barry asked his dark-haired friend, who was unsure.

Dr Snow sat up abruptly and began assessing Astrid's pulse and her wound, "She is recovering. I think she will be ok." She told them with enthusiasm. "Good," the Flash replied, I will get you to safety, I'll be back for Astrid and then I will go get Dr Fullton before it's too late."

Dr Snow tried to argue "Its not Dr Fullton. Its Anne and a whole team of scientists! You can't do it alone. There's a trick to the machine, Astrid knows what she needs to do."

Barry looked at Dr Snow, she was just as stubborn as the one from his earth. "Well I am getting you to safety regardless. I'll be back, Cisco." He told his friend and with that he was gone.

Cisco nodded slowly but didn't take his eyes off of Astrid's face. He cradled her head in his arms, willing her to open her eyes, but she didn't. At that moment he didn't care how long it took, he would wait forever. As he stroked her hair again, he leant down and kissed her lovingly on the forehead.

"Cisco. You found me," Astrid had opened her eyes just in time as she felt his lips brush her forehead. Her voice surprised him. He went to move his head back but she took his chin in her hands and kissed his lips. The moment was perfect as he kissed her back.

She winced in pain, as she remembered the wound to her abdomen, and they parted. "I didn't hurt you did I?" he asked. "No! my stomach. It just hurts. How did you get to this world? Where is Caitlin?"

"I can create portals with my powers… long story, we'll explain it later. Barry took your friend to safety. He is coming back for you."

"We can't wait here. I have to destroy the machine. Bart and Francisco tried but it ended up destroying them… I know how to do it! You two can't be around it!" She tried to clamber to her feet and Cisco stopped her.

"No, Cisco! You don't get it! Bart is Barry, Francisco is you, they tried to stop the machine but there was an explosion, it reset everything and took away Bart's speed… it broke his legs and Francisco lost his mind. I need to do it myself. Barry needs to get the two of you as far from here as possible when I shut it down, Barry won't be able to outrun the blast!"

Cisco could not believe what he was hearing. "But that would mean that you would…"  
"Someone has to do it. I've memorized the information from Dr Fullton's IPad. We have to shut down the machine before it destroys everything. I need to make sure it can never be powered up again. That it won't reset time again either!"

"Reset time?" Cisco asked her, puzzled.  
"I just met our doubles, Cisco. Astrid is right. That machine if not shut down correctly will cause an explosion that will reset time and can take away our powers altogether. Only thing is, it will cause an explosion regardless of what we do. I'm not leaving Astrid here to die in the process."

"You may not have a choice, Barry. You can't outrun the blast… If you met your doubles you would have seen what it did to them! But I will need your help to get rid of the scientists on this floor, and Anne. I have a plan on that though. They won't expect you two…"

"You can't be serious!" Cisco said angrily to her, "We came all this way and you just expect us to let you be some sort of martyr. You are not going to do this, Astrid!"

"You cannot stop me, Cisco. Future Barry told me, I am an anomaly. There are only two of me throughout the universes. I am not even supposed to exist! I realize that now! I have to do this, I will give you and Barry time to escape."

Cisco wiped away a tear from his eye. "Shhh. Someone is coming." Barry told them. He helped his friend to their feet and they hid behind the door. Astrid grimaced in pain at her poorly bandaged wound. In a blink of an eye two men walked Barry made them disappear within in a second. "Where did you send them?" Astrid asked him.

"Far away from here. You're still badly injured, you don't have to fight, just sort out the machine, and we will handle the other scientists." He told her. Astrid followed Barry out, clutching her abdomen. Cisco placed an arm around her side to help her walk.

"I can rush on ahead and clear out the floor before you two get there," Barry told Astrid.  
She nodded knowing full well that she was in no shape for another battle. "Barry, if you can, knock out Anne's earpiece and leave her to me, please," Barry nodded and was gone.

"I won't let you throw your life away you know that don't you?" Cisco told her as they reached the elevator and entered. "I do know that. But ultimately it isn't your decision, Cisco. I need you to keep my father's business running. You, Caitlin and Barry! I wrote my own will after my father died, I left it in the bottom draw of my desk. I need you to do as I say, you and Barry need to get to safety, or you will be stuck here for the rest of your life. I also want you to get the other Francisco and Bart back to their earths... for me." She was speaking so quickly, tears filled her eyes.

He knew that she would not take 'no' for an answer, still he couldn't just stand by and let her give her final will and testimony. This time it was he who kissed her, as he stroked her hair from her face.

Barry swept the floor, none of these men had done anything illegal that he knew about, though he needed to remove them from the facility altogether. He went from room to room evacuating the men and taking them 5 kilometers downtown.

The final room was the one at the end of the hall. He used his speed to go through multiple passcode combinations on the keypad. Finally, the door unlocked and he entered the room.

He was welcomed by metal netting that fell on him the instant that he entered the room, dampening his powers. The same tech Red's men had used from his own earth.

"When Dr Fullton told me there was a man that could run faster than the speed of light, I didn't realize that he was telling the truth." A woman with long blonde hair, tied back in a ponytail and glasses approached him, "Until of course a patient of mine came to me, claiming of these dreams that she had been having. It was all to coincidental. But you do exist and if we can create more of you, and show the world that travelling to alternate universes is possible this facility will become famous. We will create a new era for our world and science."

Barry looked at the machine behind her. It was pulsating a sphere of energy and making a loud humming sound. "That machine is unstable. Using it will destroy every gateway so no one will be able to use it again. It will even destroy your own world." He was still trying to free himself from the netting.

The woman stared at him and smiled, "I see that the netting worked, Dr Fullton told me if you ever came to help your friend that this would hold you. Seems to me that once again he was right."

"Yeah but I don't suppose he saw this coming!" Cisco's voice came from behind Barry as he stepped inside the room and to the left of Barry, and shot a vibrating energy pulse at the woman sending her flying back and crashing into a desk.

Cisco broke the clasp from the netting with his powers and Astrid removed the netting from Barry as he ran out from under it, charging at the psychologist at full speed. He removed the earpiece from the woman as promised.

Astrid didn't perform a mind-scream this time. She wanted to test her powers while she had the chance. She stared at Anne, 'You will leave this place.' She thought to the woman with such strong emphasis, 'you will forget everything that has happened here, all the theories on alternate universe's, and people with extra abilities do not exist. Now go!'

The woman stared blankly at Astrid, "Who are you people? Where am I? I… I need to leave." With that she darted out of the room, without turning back.

Barry and Cisco stared at Astrid hard. "What…what was that?" Barry asked her.  
"Man, you just totally pulled a Jedi mind trick on her didn't you?" Cisco asked her, impressed.  
Astrid said nothing, her head and her stomach both hurt. She hobbled towards the console. The IPad had been placed, conveniently next to it.

"You guys need to go!" she told them, "I need to do this now!" She began typing into the console.  
"No you don't! you can't even hack a simple network! Let me do it," Cisco told her.

"Cisco, you and Barry you have your own families to go back to, you have everything back on our earth. At least now I will be with my mother and father… If that's even possible! Plus, Barry will need you to get back. Barry! Please? Don't let him stay behind."

Barry walked up to Astrid and gave her a hug. "You're sure you want to do this? You're sure you want to kill yourself for all humanity?" he asked her.

"I have to. Please, look after him for me. And look after Caitlin for me… please?"  
"I will." Barry replied, as Astrid got back to typing on the console. Cisco tried to argue. He came up and hugged her and kissed her on the forehead.

Astrid could feel tears forming in her eyes, "Barry, you need to take him now. Please!"  
Barry nodded, and in an instant both he and Cisco were gone.  
Astrid typed. She managed to override the system. At last the final messages came up on the screen. 'Do you want to shut down this console permanently? Shut down will cause detonation on the machine.'

Astrid took a deep breath in and sighed, she clicked 'yes' and watched as the instant her view turned to a flash of red and yellow flame… and then Black!


	19. Chapter 19 - Earth Prime - Earth 27

Barry used his speed to return to the laboratory, looking around at the scene that, to him, seemed frozen in time. It was up to him to run faster than ever before if he were to save his friend and escape unscathed from the explosion.

Astrid had quite willingly attempted to risk her life for Barry and Cisco after seeing what had befallen their doppelganger selves in the past. Both Bart and Francisco had not escaped fast enough and had been stripped of their powers. Barry would not allow this to happen again.

The flames from the machine behind Astrid felt hot and were rising higher and higher. The expression on her face seemed oddly calm, like she was ready to give up her life so casually. He wrapped his arm around her waist tightly and took a deep breath.

He ran as fast as he could, with her in his arm. The heat of the flames licking at his back. He felt as if he wasn't running fast enough so he pushed himself to run faster. Yet he still didn't seem fast enough. He focused on his breathing, his heart was beating rapidly, his free arm moving faster to give him speed.

He ran and ran and just kept running until he had reached the home of this earth's Astrid. He was surrounded by his doppelganger self in the wheelchair and his friends.

Barry felt a pang of sympathy for the man simply known as 'Bart'. Bart was the name on Barry's birth certificate. It was clear that this other man had felt a complete strip of identity when he had lost his powers, as Barry himself imagined he would feel in his situation.

Barry studied Astrid, she was still alive, fortunately. She would be angry at him for risking his life, but that didn't concern him in the slightest. At least she would be alive to be angry at him.

He still had his speed so he must have been on time. They had done it. So he hoped. He felt time speed up around him and he sat Astrid on the chair next to Bart, at the desk and waited for them to realize what had just happened.

Astrid gasped. "Barry! I can't believe you risked your own life just to help me. You risked your abilities. Our earth needs you and you were reckless!"

"Thanks, man." Cisco told him, "You'll get over it, Astrid." He smiled at her, happy that she was alive. Astrid gave Cisco a look, telling him to 'shut up' with out verbally saying so.

Bart looked up at Barry "You did it. Do you feel different at all? Can you still run?" he asked.

"I sure can," Barry responded. He didn't really know what to say. "We can get the two of you back to your earth if you like." He looked at Francisco, who was clearly oblivious to all those around him. He was focused on the computer screen in front of him.

"That would make my job much more difficult to explain," Dr Snow broke in. "I released two patients, for them to mysteriously go missing. But that might be best for them, maybe they can get some real help on their earth." She was still very clearly, shaken up from her ordeal. Though she was trying to sound professional.

"I would like that," Bart told him.  
Dr Snow looked at her phone and then raced to turn on the television, in time for a news bulletin to sound out over the room. "Emergency crew are currently at the sight of the sleep Research Centre where a mysterious explosion has occurred. The current estimate of destruction is at least $8 million. We are currently waiting to see if anyone was injured at the time…"

"I hope everyone was ok." Dr Snow said to Barry.  
"I made sure of it," he told her. He looked over at Astrid, "Do you think the multiverse gates are intact?"  
Astrid looked over at Bart and Francisco, "I believe so. I detonated the machine as per the procedures, speaking of procedures. You would not believe who helped build that machine… Dr Henry …"

"…Jackson." Cisco finished her sentence for her, "yeah we found that out, he was looking for his daughter which is why he offered to help."

Astrid looked over at Dr Snow and bit her lip, "I might have met her, but I will need to discuss that later… until then we need to work on getting us all home. And then the other Astrid and I can switch bodies again. I don't envy the pain she is going to have to deal with, recovering from this." She was referring to her abdominal wound.

Not long had passed, Cisco had escorted Bart and Francisco back to their own earth and had returned to take Barry and Astrid home. Astrid hugged Dr Snow and thanked her for all that she had done. She then looked at Barry and Cisco, excited to finally go home.

Cisco adjusted his vibing glasses and created a portal in mid-air, to Astrid's amazement. With one last wave to Dr Snow they walked through, finding themselves back on their floor at Sutherland Labs during the middle of the day.

Caitlin, alarmed at seeing them, raced over from her med bay and hugged Astrid tightly. Astrid groaned at the pain in her stomach. "Careful! Watch the battle wound!" she told her friend.  
"Oh! I'm sorry! Let me get you patched up. Cisco, is that your shirt? Nevermind, It's just good to have the real you back, Astrid!"

Caitlin led her to the spare bed in the med bay. Astrid looked over at the sleeping patient in the next bed. The one that was currently inhabiting her own body. "Wow! This is just too weird." She told her friends.

She sat down on the spare bed with her eyes fixed on her clone, as Caitlin redressed her wound. The sleeping girl began to stir, flickering her eyes open and sitting bolt upright, staring at Astrid.

Neither one of them could say a word. This was the most amazing moment that either one of them had ever experienced. Finally, the girl who had been sleeping broke the silence as she watched Caitlin bandage the abdominal wound. "You got me injured?"

Astrid looked at her friends in disbelief. "I didn't do it intentionally."  
Cisco burst out laughing at the awkward moment. "Earth Prime Astrid, please meet our friend… Daughter of the man who created Sutherland Labs, Mind-Marvel by trade… our Astrid Sutherland."

"Mind-Marvel?" Barry asked raising his eyebrows.  
"It was a name we came up before she left." Cisco told him, happily.  
"… Did you find her?" their conversation was interrupted by someone who had just entered the room. Dr Henry Jackson.

They all looked up at him. Clutching her freshly dressed wound, Astrid took a deep breath. "I did, Dr Jackson. But you may not like it…"

All of a sudden an alarm began sounding from the intercom. Barry raced over to it. It looks like they are having issues with the Pulse accelerator again. Astrid hobbled over and picked up the phone, adjusting her shirt over her bandage. "This is Miss Sutherland, is everything ok?" she asked into the receiver.

A startled voice answered "please miss… you need to come quick… a girl has come out of the machine. What do we do?"

"A girl?" Astrid realized at that moment just who it was. She put the receiver down. "We need to get there quickly, Caitlin, can you keep her here? The staff only need to see one Astrid, right now."

She led the rest of the team to the floor, where they found the room in quite a bustle. The familiar girl, who had just was frightened. "Astrid... is that you?" She asked, it was Emma. The girl noticed the doctor who emerged from behind Astrid and a look of amazement crossed her face.

"Dad!" she gasped. She ran to the doctor and embraced her father, whose feelings were mutual. Dr Jackson beamed as he held his daughter for the first time in years. Astrid noticed a tear trickle down his cheek as he had finally been united with his daughter.


	20. Chapter 20 - Earth 27

"So now that I am back, I say it's about time to put me back into my body, Dr Jackson." Astrid announced, "I have done what I was meant to do and I think it is also time for the other girl to go back to her own world." She was sitting positioned on the computer desk alongside the doctor.

Her doppelganger, who was standing on the other side of the room with Emma, looked up in her direction and at the bandaged wound to her abdomen. She too missed being in her own body. Why would it matter? They were clearly identical! It was the fact that she felt like an imposter, their hairs were styled differently, their dress-sense too. "I agree," she told the doctor.

Dr Jackson nodded, "If you like we can try it do this afternoon. And what of you Emma? Will you return with your friend, or stay here?"

Emma looked baffled. "You mean you won't be coming back to our earth?"  
"No, as much as I would like to, I don't belong there anymore. I have certain gifts now and if that world was to discover me… It would not end well for me, or you." He told her.

"Well then, I will stay here with you, dad." She told him.  
Henry looked back at Astrid. "Well I suppose we should start the procedure as soon as possible."  
"I will get the sedatives," Caitlin announced from her med bay.

Both Astrid and her doppelganger made their way towards Caitlin.  
"It's been great being someone else for a change," Mind Marvel told Astrid, "though your life seems very lonely. I never met any of your family."

"None really to speak of," Astrid replied, "I was adopted, apparently when they found me all I had was a name, my true parents died or something. I bounced around a little until I found a family who took me in and paid for me to study nursing. However, both my foster parents died a few years back."

Astrid didn't know how to respond to that. The girl was very resilient. She could only wish that she could help her in some way. Though she doubted the girl wanted her help. She looked at Caitlin and read that she too thought the same. Caitlin handed them both a sedative and a cup of water. Both the girls swallowed the tablets down and laid on the beds, falling asleep shortly after.

"Did it work?" Astrid asked.  
"OOOH!" her doppelganger cringed in pain, "Yes. It did! My stomach hurts! Can I take something for the pain?" She asked Dr Snow, who jumped to her feet to get her something.

"I take that as a yes," Dr Jackson told Cisco who had been doubting his abilities once again. "Good. I can vibe her back to her own world when we're ready to go."

The girl swallowed the analgesia and sat up looking at him. She felt sad to be leaving this world but excited all the same. She hoped that she would still dream of their experiences, but needed to go back to her own life too.

Barry checked his phone, "You're going to have to check in with Singh at some point, Astrid. Joe told him that you're sick. It will only work for so long."

Mind Marvel smiled, "Yep! Back to work after my little vacation. I'll call him now!" she hopped off the bed to call him from the office phone.

"I'm ready to go back home to my world," Astrid told Cisco, who nodded and looked at Barry. "Are you ready to go back?" Barry nodded at Cisco in response.

Caitlin fussed over Astrid's bandages. "They will ask what happened to you when you get home, you know."  
"That they will, but I am rather resourceful. I'm sure I can tell them something exciting that they will believe. Thank you for all that you have done Caitlin. Astrid is lucky to have you... all of you… especially you, Cisco."

Cisco was looking over Barry's shoulder at Astrid on the phone.  
"I'm sorry... what?" he asked her.

"Tell her how you really feel." She told him, "that's the only way that anything will ever happen, you just need to be honest with her." He nodded and said, "Let's get you back home."

It was getting late at Sutherland Labs, Cisco and Barry had both returned from taking Astrid to her own earth and were currently accompanying Caitlin and Mind Marvel in one of the meeting rooms with the big screen. They were all sitting watching movies.

"Oh come on you guys! We can't just leave it there." Astrid told them.  
"It's late Astrid, we all have work in the morning. We all have to go home and sleep, you included." Caitlin told her, as she got up and began leaving.

"I have slept enough lately. Just one more movie…" Astrid begged.  
"One more movie with you quoting every line? I don't think so!" Barry told her with a grin.  
"Please? I promise! I won't" she told him.

"You're promising not to quote all the lines from Back to the Future 2?" Cisco asked her, ready to burst out laughing. Astrid drew a cross across her chest with her fingers.

"I promise!" she told them all.  
"Sorry Astrid," Caitlin apologized again, this time, with a yawn. "We have all been awake far too long. I'm going home to bed."

"Me too. I am actually very tired." Barry replied.

Astrid really needed one of her friends to stay back. The staff had all gone home at her house, she really did not want to be alone after all that had happened.

"Cisco? Surely you could watch it with me?" she asked him sweetly.  
"The movie you have watched more times than any of us can even count?" he looked at Barry and Caitlin who were heading out the door and then back at Astrid."Sure, why not!" he decided.

Astrid sighed in relief and went to put the movie on. Cisco watched as Barry and Caitlin were finally out of ear shot.

"Before we watch it, are we going to talk about what happened back on the other earth?" he asked her, making her freeze in mid action and turn around. She wasn't wearing her bracelet and hadn't done so since she had been back, but she refused to probe into his thoughts.

"What about it?" she asked him.  
"We kissed. You were ready to die, but then you didn't and you acted like nothing happened." He told her.  
"Maybe the only reason we did is because I was going to die and I didn't want to do so without you knowing how I felt about you."

"…and how do you feel?" he asked her.  
"Oh come on, Cisco! You have known all along how I have felt! Why I broke up with Ollie. Why I got you the job with my father, why I have done anything! It has never been about how I have felt. It has been about you and how you have always been too scared to say anything."

"Scared? Me?" he asked her, a little hurt. She was the mind reader here, not him. She could have said something ages ago, she knew how he felt about her, but she had never done anything about it.

"Ok, maybe we were both too scared," she admitted, "but why? The timing has never been right? Or we didn't want to ruin our friendship? I really don't know anymore."

Cisco stood up from his chair and grabbed her hand. "Then it is time for us to stop being too scared. I almost lost you today. I don't want to do that again."

Cisco pulled her close and kissed her as she melted in his arms.

 **Meanwhile on Earth Prime…**

It had been a week since Astrid had returned and Dr Snow had to pull a few strings to get her job back.

She arrived home from work to find an envelope on the coffee table.

Maybe the other Astrid had left the envelope here and she had not noticed it until then? She was sure she would have seen it by now.

She opened it and found a very short letter that read:

Dear Astrid

Your fate is about to change

Yours Truly

Kent Nelson


End file.
